This speech was mainly divided in two parts: a reminder on the Audiovisual Media Services (AMS) Directive’s outcomes and a presentation of the forthcoming European Commission’s (EC) draft legislations in the field of Media (i.e., especially on Mobile TV and on the review of the EU Regulatory framework for electronic communications networks and services – the “Telecom package”).

Mrs. Reding, throughout her speech, underlined National Regulatory Authorities’ (NRA) essential role in society, especially concerning the AMS Directive’s scope, Mobile TV and the use of spectrum: the existence of strong and independent regulators is an unquestionable asset. The EU has to help NRAs to develop new services, through creating a favorable jurisdictional environment.

In the first part of her speech, Mrs. Reding highlighted the need to ensure Free-To-Air Television services. She also stressed the fact that the AMS Directive strengthens and specifies the principle of regulation’s neutrality towards broadcasting platform (this is of particular interest now since regulators, in the rest of the world, are investigating on IPTV and on Mobile TV; in this field, thanks to the AMS Directive, the EU is ahead and provides our NRAs with legal security.). She then outscored EU’s efficient co- and self-regulation’s systems (reinforced with the AMS Directive.); and recalled another essential point: the AMS Directive is based on the Country of Origin principle. This should be kept in mind, as much as the fact that the EU is a single market where disproportionate rules, such as complete bans on advertising, are problematic.

In the second part of her speech, Mrs. Reding recalled that Mobile TV is an opportunity for Europe to reinforce its position in the mobile and audiovisual services sectors; this explains why the EC released guidelines in this field (see Communication (COM (2007) 409 final). For her, the EU must:
- act fast and provide a coherent framework for Mobile TV services’ authorizations
- give appropriate frequencies for Mobile TV commercial services
- accelerate consensus on a European technology (to become, as GSM, an appeal product)

Mrs. Reding then explained that to foster this, EC will set a regulatory dialogue on authorizations and register DVB-H in the official list of standards. She declared that she was satisfied with the fact that the Portuguese Presidency and several MSs share the voluntary approach (see recent developments in France).

Mrs. Reding furthermore stated that the digital dividend is a significant, if not historical, opportunity to release frequencies: it is our collective responsibility to use the dividend to maximize social and economic impact. Public and private broadcasters have a lot to win from a pragmatic approach. The EC still supports service neutrality for radio spectrum management; but Mrs. Reding ensured that the EC won’t question, in its proposal on the digital dividend, spectrum uses for services of general interest, where cultural diversity is a component of these services.

Next steps:
- Extraordinary meeting between Telecom and Audiovisual NRAs in Capri, Italy (October 18th-19th, 2007); Mrs Reding will participate
- Content online Communication to be released soon (likely to be in November 2007)
- Telecom package launch (likely to be on November 13th, 2007)
- Digital Dividend Communication to be released soon (before end of 2007)

To read the full speech, please click here
To read an article on Mobile TV developments in France, please click here