Brussels, 15/12/2004 (Agence Europe) - The European Audio-visual Observatory published the first volume of its 2004b edition of its Yearbook on "The Economy of the Radio and Television Industry in Europe": volume 1, 144 pp. ISBN 92-871-5560-7). The report draws up a balance sheet of the European audio-visual market (EU15) 1998-2002. This is valued at 98.6 billion euros in 2002 and which had experienced average annual growth rates since 1998 of 6.5%, which did, however, slow down in 2002 (0.2%). The Observatory illustrates that DVD sales and rentals experienced the strongest annual average growth rates by far during this period (+223%), whereas sales and rentals of VHS cassettes experienced an average annual rate of decline of -6.5%. The whole area of radio-television experienced an annual average growth rate of 6.82%. The public sector, with 27% of the European audio-visual market experienced the highest rate of growth with an annual average of 4.4% and a slightly lower rate of recession (-2.7%) in 2002. Analysing the financial performances of the 391 EU TV companies, the Observatory noted that in 2002, for the fourth consecutive year, the "television" branch of the audio-visual industry has been in deficit. The television channels financed by advertising constitutes the only area that was profitable over in the 1998-2002 period with a significant plunge in profits in 2002 (from 18.9% in 2000 to 7.8% in 2002). In 2002, only the televisual systems in Germany and France combined were profitable. The lowest national performances were from Spain, Portugal and Finland. Initial statistics for 2003 from the Observatory illustrate that this year is expected to demonstrate a return to balance for the European television sector after the disappearance of digital platforms due to bankruptcy in 2001-2002, and the mergers that occurred in 2003 in Spain and Italy and the relative financial stabilisation of the BBC, ORF and RTE.