Brussels, 21/09/2005 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission has launched a public consultation in order to breathe new life into the competitiveness of the world of publishing, in an increasingly digitalised economy. The result of this consultation will be examined by the services of the Commission after the process, in mid-November. In the meantime, Viviane Reding, the Commission in charge of the Information Society and Media, is to meet the publishers behind eight European journals and periodicals from the United Kingdom, Spain, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Austria, Denmark, Lithuania and Malta on 23 September, to discuss with them how the European written press is dealing with the challenges and opportunities thrown up by on-line publication, digitalisation and increasing competition on the advertising markets. The result of the procedure will be published in Brussels on 6 December, at a general publishers' meeting.
The commission decided to launch the consultation further to a study it carried out into the competitiveness of the publishing sector. These results showed that publishers must restructure and innovate if they are to get back on track for growth. Over 180 million Europeans take a newspaper; however, revenue is falling and the readership is ageing (regular readers are over 45 years old on average), with young people turning increasingly towards other media, notes the Commission. At the same time, digital techniques are rapidly changing the way in which content is created, combined, broadcast and consumed, obliging the sector to adapt. Furthermore, advertising, which traditionally represents over half of the total revenue of a daily newspaper, is slowly disappearing and, in certain areas, such as the advertisement of situations vacant, advertising is very quickly moving over to the Internet.
Interested parties are invited to comment on the following aspects: obstacles to the broadcasting of information and communications technology, enterprise models (particularly management systems for digital copyright), ownership structures in the media, differences in the regulatory traditions (licences for radio-broadcast media, but not for the press), and rules governing advertising. For more information, please see: http: //europa.eu.int/information_society/ media_taskforce/publishing/consultation/index_en.htm.