Brussels, 02/05/2006 (Agence Europe) - On 27 April, the European Parliament adopted the own-initiative report by French Socialist Henri Weber assessing the advantages to be gained by the audiovisual sector and for cultural diversity by switching over from analogue broadcasting to digital broadcasting. MEPs stress the need to safeguard the European audiovisual model and, in order to prevent adverse social effect, call for the interests of citizens and consumers to be constantly taken into account during the transition period in order to prevent there being a digital gap. Above all, the new audiovisual technologies should allow diffusion of information in many areas and of quality programmes accessible to an ever-growing number of citizens, they say. The Parliament considers that the European audiovisual model is based on a constructive balance being struck between a strong and independent public service and a dynamic commercial sector. It hopes that this model will be guaranteed when implementing digital techniques. Aware of the fact that compliance with multi-facetted information and content diversity will not be automatically ensured by stepping up the number of television and radio channels, MEPs hope that pluralism will be guaranteed through an effective policy on the part of public authorities. They recognise that only a complete switchover to digital technology will ensure that the complete range of pan-European and cross-borders services may be fully used. They call on the European Commission to pursue its work to promote the harmonisation of intellectual property rights in order to facilitate the creation of legal on-line markets and to combat piracy. Finally, noting the disparity that exists between Member States in the general transition context, MEPs calls for specific measures to be applied at national level.