Le-Antonio – Association of European Radios

On this World Radio Day, the Association of European Radios (AER), representing more than 4500 commercially funded radios from all across Europe, would like to recall that radio is a great tool to connect people, as it is everywhere, free, trustable and you just need to press a button to start taking part in a conversation.

This year, AER would like to highlight a project launched in Finland called the “Silent Ones”. Stefan Möller, AER President introduces this campaign: “The Silent Ones is a campaign and a popular movement in which lonely people get a voice. The aim is to reduce the amount of loneliness in Finland. The Silent Ones is a reminder that commercial radio has social significance. We transmit the message that commercial radio, as an active player, need not simply wring its hands: it can do something about the matter.” More information on this campaign here: www.hiljaiset.fi

Key connecting figures of radio:
– 80% of the EU population listens to radio for at least 2 to 3 hours a day – and mostly to local or regional programmes, as shown by national audience measurement
– Radio is Free-To-Air and Simple-To-Use
– During manmade or natural disasters, radio is the first – and possibly the only remaining – tool to inform the public
– Radio is the most trusted medium (Standard Eurobarometer Survey of Autumn 2013 (EB80))

To learn more on how great radio is, please see here and here.

En cette journée mondiale de la radio, l’Association Européenne des Radios (AER), qui représente plus de 4,500 radios privées de toute l’Europe, voudrait rappeler que la radio est un instrument essentiel pour connecter les citoyens, du fait de sa présence en tout lieu, par son caractère gratuit et crédible, et grâce à sa simplicité : il suffit d’appuyer sur un bouton pour commencer à prendre part à une conversation.

Cette année, l’AER voudrait mettre en exergue un projet lancé en Finlande : « ceux qui se taisent ». Stefan Möller, Président de l’AER, introduit cette campagne : « Ceux qui se taisent est à la fois une campagne et un mouvement populaire par lequel les gens seuls trouvent une voix. Le but est de réduire la solitude en Finlande. Ceux qui se taisent rappellent que la radio privée a un impact social. Nous voulons rappeler que la radio privée, étant un acteur à part entière sur ces questions, ne peut pas simplement se tordre les mains : elle peut agir. » Pour plus d’informations, cliquez ici : www.hiljaiset.fi

Comment la radio connecte:
– Approximativement 80% des européens écoutent la radio au moins 2 à 3 heures par jour en moyenne – principalement des programmes locaux et régionaux, comme le montrent les mesures d’audience nationales
– La radio est d’accès simple et gratuit
– La radio est primordiale pour la communication et la coordination en cas de catastrophes naturelles ou causées par l’homme
– La radio est le media auquel le public fait le plus confiance, comme l’a établi une nouvelle fois la dernière étude de l’Eurobaromètre Standard 80 à l’automne 2013

D’autres exemples montrant à quel point la radio est importante sont accessible ici et ici.

Welcome to the Association of European Radios

Le-Antonio — Tue, 13 Jan 2015 12:08:31 +0000

Association of European Radios

Le-Antonio — Tue, 06 Jan 2015 14:01:17 +0000

Representing commercial radio from all across Europe to the EU

World Radio Day – 13/02/2014

Le-Antonio — Thu, 13 Feb 2014 14:14:37 +0000

WORLD RADIO DAY, FEBRUARY 13TH, 2014 – COMMERCIAL RADIO’S KEY MESSAGES / A MULTIPLATFORM FUTURE

JOURNEE MONDIALE DE LA RADIO, 13 FEVRIER 2014 – DES MESSAGES CLES SUR LA RADIO / UN FUTUR MULTIPLATEFORME
MEDIA RELEASE / COMMUNIQUE DE PRESSE

On this World Radio Day, the Association of European Radios (AER), representing more than 4500 commercially funded radios from all across Europe, would like to recall some key messages on radio:

– 80% of the EU population listens to radio for at least 2 to 3 hours a day – and mostly to local or regional programmes, as shown by national audience measurement

– There are 4 to 5 radio receivers in every household in Europe

– Radio is Free-To-Air and Simple-To-Use

– During manmade or natural disasters, radio is the first – and possibly the only remaining – tool to inform the public

– Radio is the most trusted medium (Standard Eurobarometer Survey of Autumn 2012 (EB78))

Stefan Möller, AER President, hence underlines: “free and independent radio is essential to cultural diversity, media pluralism, freedom of expression, access to creativity, disaster relief and social inclusion. These services are made available on commercial radio thanks to advertising. Commercially funded radio plays a fundamental role in today’s society and this is why it is entrusted and fulfils voluntarily many public interest obligations. Radio will remain the most intimate medium thanks to its multiplatform present and future”.

The enclosed messages recalling some of radio’s key features are free of use and can be downloaded on the AER website: www.aereurope.org

En cette journée mondiale de la radio, l’Association Européenne des Radios (AER), qui représente plus de 4,500 radios privées de toute l’Europe, voudrait rappeler certains points essentiels au sujet de la radio :

– Approximativement 80% des européens écoutent la radio au moins 2 à 3 heures par jour en moyenne – principalement des programmes locaux et régionaux, comme le montrent les mesures d’audience nationales

– Chaque foyer européen dispose de 4 à 5 récepteurs radio

– La radio est d’accès simple et gratuit

– La radio est primordiale pour la communication et la coordination en cas de catastrophes naturelles ou causées par l’homme

– La radio est le media auquel le public fait le plus confiance, comme l’a établi une nouvelle fois la dernière étude de l’Eurobaromètre Standard 78 à l’automne 2012

Stefan Möller, Président de l’AER, souligne ainsi : « une radio libre et indépendante est essentielle pour la diversité culturelle, le pluralisme, la liberté d’expression, l’accès à la création, l’aide en cas de catastrophes et l’intégration sociale. Ces services sont mis à disposition du public grâce à la publicité. La radio privée joue un rôle fondamental dans notre société, elle respecte des cahiers des charges complexes, et s’acquitte volontiers et souvent spontanément de nombreuses missions d’intérêt général. La radio restera le média le plus intime grâce à son développement actuel et futur sur un mode multiplateforme ».

Les messages ci-joint, rappelant certaines caractéristiques clés de la radio, sont libres d’usage et peuvent être téléchargés sur le site de l’AER : www.aereurope.org

EDAA – Press Release – 27th January 2014 – Brussels

Le-Antonio — Mon, 27 Jan 2014 14:14:02 +0000

EDAA – 27TH JANUARY 2014 – SELF-REGULATORY PROGRAMME FOR ONLINE BEHAVIOURAL ADVERTISING DELIVERS ACROSS EUROPE

The European Interactive Digital Advertising Alliance (EDAA) has today published its inaugural annual report for 2013, highlighting the pan-European self-regulatory initiative to provide consumers with greater transparency and control over digital ads based upon previous browsing activity – Online Behavioural Advertising (OBA).

The EDAA report provides an overview of the Programme and its rollout to-date, as well as the EDAA’s priorities for 2014. It demonstrates the significant investment advertising businesses are making to give European consumers more control. With the support of the entire EU advertising sector, the EDAA’s report encourages businesses to get involved and comply.

Key highlights of the 2013 report include:

Company awareness and uptake of the initiative is increasing: the EU programme now covers the vast majority of the market(s).
Visibility of the icon in or around ads and on web pages is growing at an exponential rate: over 120 billion icons delivered in 2013 through EDAA’s Approved Icon Providers (Evidon & TRUSTe). Transparency and control for all European consumers is only a click away
The pan-European Consumer Choice Platform at www.youronlinechoices.eu is now live in 30 markets (and 26 different languages), including Croatia, the newest EU Member State. The site now has an optimised mobile version and consumers using the Firefox and Chrome web browsers can use a browser plugin to better preserve their choices.
Many businesses are now demonstrating full compliance via the EDAA’s trust seal provided via independent Certification Providers (ABC, BPA Worldwide, ePrivacyconsult and TRUSTe).
The pan-European consumer awareness campaign has been rolled-out in the UK, Ireland and Germany to raise consumers’ awareness of the icon, and what it means. These markets have benefited from strong industry support (including donated inventory) and substantial consumer engagement. The campaign will continue to expand across other European markets in 2014.
National advertising Self-Regulatory Organisations have extended their remits to handle consumer complaints in seven EU markets to-date, with more to follow in 2014. Any consumer complaints will be handled in a consistent way, recognising the pan-European context of the initiative.

In a nutshell, the self-regulatory programme is consistently delivering on industry commitments to empower consumers across Europe.

The programme has evolved in constant dialogue with the European Commission, and Director-General Robert Madelin (DG Connect) has spoken of his appreciation of the industry’s efforts and achievements to-date: “it is always a pleasure, and a source of confidence, to see fast and dedicated follow-up to a high-profile business initiative in a crucial sector. I look forward to continuing cooperation between all interested parties.”

Nick Stringer, Chair of the EDAA and Director of Regulatory Affairs at the Internet Advertising Bureau UK (IAB UK), added: “This inaugural EDAA report demonstrates that digital businesses are investing in ways to give consumers greater transparency and control over their data. Privacy is becoming a competing factor and those businesses that choose to show leadership now will benefit commercially in the longer run.”

ENDS

MEDIA CONTACT
For more information, please contact:
Dave Barron, EDAA Project Officer ( dave.barron(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)edaa.eu)
Tel: +32 (0)2 213 4180

ABOUT THE EDAA

The European Interactive Digital Advertising Alliance (EDAA) is a non-profit organisation based in Brussels and is responsible for enacting key aspects of the self-regulatory initiative for Online Behavioural Advertising (OBA) across Europe. EDAA principally acts as the central licensing body for the OBA Icon and provides technical means for consumers to exercise transparency and control over OBA through the www.youronlinechoices.eu Consumer Choice Platform. EDAA is governed by EU-level organisations which make up the value chain of OBA within Europe and acts to ensure European consistency in approach.
AER is part of the governing bodies of EDAA. For information on EDAA’s objectives, operations, participating companies and governing bodies, please visit: www.edaa.eu

ABOUT THE EUROPEAN PRINCIPLES FOR OBA

The Self Regulatory Principles for Online Behavioural Advertising have been developed by a cross-industry effort at European level, with EASA’s (European Advertising Standards Alliance) Best Practice Recommendation on OBA building on the IAB Europe (Interactive Advertising Bureau Europe) OBA Framework.

An essential role regarding compliance with these Principles is played by the national Self-Regulatory Organisations (SROs) and IABs. Companies should be aware of the national SROs where they operate, a list and contact details of which can be found on EASA’s website: www.easa-alliance.org.

Review of the EU Copyright Rules – AER Comments

Le-Antonio — Wed, 01 Jan 2014 15:08:06 +0000

2014 – REVIEW OF THE EU COPYRIGHT RULES
The Association of European Radios (AER) is a Europe-wide trade body representing the interests of over 4,500 commercially-funded radio stations across the EU27 and in Switzerland.

AER is located at:
Association Européenne des Radios
76, av. d’Auderghem,
1040 Brussels,
Belgium

AER’s Interest Representative Register ID Number is 6822083232-32.

On December 5th, 2013, the European Commission published a Public Consultation on the review of the EU copyright rules. AER welcomes this new consultation.

AER needs to first highlight that the comments provided in this position paper are all meant to tackle issues related to the audio / sound-only world. As illustrated in the course of the Licences for Europe discussions, the radio environment is neither audiovisual, nor music-only: it is an environment where sound-only usage / non-retail prevails. Radios across Europe do need a sectoral approach to tackle their concerns regarding authors’ and neighbouring rights. From this perspective, one should recall that radio’s business model in Europe is based, now and for the foreseeable future, mainly on broadcasting of free-to-air programmes. Digital technology (be it online or broadcast / on-air) for radio is slowly taking up across Europe at different national paces. Therefore, any framework for authors’ and neighbouring rights related to radio should encompass both online and offline rights, in order to tackle radios’ current and forthcoming needs: this framework should be technologically neutral.

AER therefore would like to commend the Licences for Europe initiative from the European Commission, which enabled awareness-raising on the challenges radios are currently facing online and offline.

Another important point to recall is that copyright and related rights or authors’ rights and neighbouring rights are key for commercial radios and cultural and creative industries: as mentioned in the study of the EU Observatory on Infringements of Intellectual Property Rights on the Impact of intellectual property rights intensive industries in the European Union, copyright-intensive industries contributed in 2012 / 2013 to 4.2% of EU GDP and 3.2% of the employment in the EU .

A last key element to recall is that radios are indeed broadcasters, i.e. both right holders and important right users: one of AER’s members’ primary expenses remains that of rights’ clearance. Radio broadcasters across Europe pay over €2.6 billion per year for content, mostly music rights , and payment for these rights is negotiated on a regular basis. As such, it should be highlighted that radios provide a substantial part of the stable revenues delivered to the music industry. Furthermore, AER is constantly striving to ensure the best possible authors’ and neighbouring rights regulatory framework to enable its members to create the best professionally produced content for their listeners. With changing consumption models, radios have to develop their presence on all possible platforms: in order to maintain audience, radios should be accessible on-air, online, via cable or satellite transmission in a linear and non-linear manner. This entails multiplication of costs for the mere technical presence and maintenance of the presence on a new platform, and to clear access to all protected works. To ensure clarity and fairness, online and offline fees should be carried out under a single blanket license fee, in a transparent manner.

Whilst one of the basic principle guiding authors’ rights and copyrights is contractual freedom, AER would welcome the extension of the principles contained in the Cable and Satellite Directive (Directive 93/83/EEC), as described further in this position paper.

Besides, whilst broadcasters are ‘normally referred to in questions “as right holders“’ in this consultation, most of the answers provided below are taken from the viewpoint of radios as rights users / service providers – if the viewpoint of radios as rightholders is used, it will be indicated in the answer. Finally, AER has only answered the questions relevant to commercial radios.

II. Rights and the functioning of the Single Market

A. Why is it not possible to access many online content services from anywhere in Europe?

2. [In particular if you are a service provider:] Have you faced problems when seeking to provide online services across borders in the EU?

European commercial radio is mostly targeted at local, regional or national audiences; language barriers mean that demand is primarily limited to national, and often regional, boundaries. Moreover, in most cases, due to the traditional radio business model, the majority of AER members’ audiences are most likely limited to town / city or regional boundaries (the information delivered relates to local traffic, cultural events or local community policy which is of no interest for listeners from other towns / cities or regions). At the same time, by its nature, the internet gives worldwide access. The current business model for ‘traditional’ radio stations, especially commercially funded stations, does not support worldwide audiences: our programmes – be it news or music, would have little, if any, interest for listeners (or indeed advertisers) located outside a certain territorial range. Therefore, there is currently no significant financial benefit to be heard on a global scale. It follows that there is little imperative to incur the costs and time involved in securing extra rights / licences for international simulcasting .

However, those radio stations that do wish to operate outside their national boundaries, or that perhaps unintentionally have listeners (e.g. ex-patriots) accessing their online broadcasts from outside their territory, are faced with significant territorial difficulties associated with the different rules and tariffs applying to other Member States. A radio station transmitting its programmes on the internet potentially has to contact 28 different bodies to clear the rights used, and due to time and financial constraints, this is simply not possible. As a result, those stations concerned with incurring unwanted international right liabilities could be forced to install systems that block the transmission of their programmes outside of their home territory. Territorial restrictions and the subsequent blocking of programmes cannot be an appropriate market solution for radios.

4. If you have identified problems in the answers to any of the questions above – what would be the best way to tackle them?

AER members need legal certainty. However, compulsory multi-territorial licences do not reflect radio business models and would lead to additional unsustainable costs. Furthermore, radios should be able to choose the proper offer from any collective rights management organisation, via fair competition on administrative fees.

The main solution to obtain legal certainty would be that clearing rights in the EU Member State of origin should enable use in all (and worldwide), at least online – if the listening abroad is marginal (5 to 10% of the listening maximum).

Whilst AER would still welcome a possible review of the Cable and Satellite Directive of 1993, modifying the rules for online delivery of sound content, a practice is being developed in the licensing contracts delivered by some collective rights management organisations to integrate the solution illustrated above in the blanket licence delivered to radios at national level at least for the simulcasting of radio programmes. Indeed, simulcasting does not generate a new share of listeners, it merely prevents from losing existing ones. This tackles this problem in a more immediate and flexible manner. AER would encourage this practice on a country by country basis.

In addition, it is important that the licences awarded should remain “radio licences”, covering all types of programmes, online and offline: a radio programme which is transmitted online remains a radio programme, and should therefore not be charged as another service. Besides, the aim of a radio service is to deliver people with a well-planned and produced mixture of talk, stories, entertainment, news, music and surprises. Furthermore, as commercially funded radios are SMEs faced with a very wide range of expenses linked to the services they produce (cost for broadcasting, studio, staff, etc.), they are not in a position to afford similar licensing conditions as other online-only actors.

7. Do you think that further measures (legislative or non-legislative, including market-led solutions) are needed at EU level to increase the cross-border availability of content services in the Single Market, while ensuring an adequate level of protection for right holders?

As mentioned in the answer to question 4, a solution based on the country-of-origin principle would help enabling radios to obtain legal certainty. Whilst this could be accomplished by way of a regulatory instrument, direct negotiations on licensing could also enable this objective to be attained.

B. Is there a need for more clarity as regards the scope of what needs to be authorised (or not) in digital transmissions?

8. Is the scope of the “making available” right in cross-border situations – i.e. when content is disseminated across borders – sufficiently clear? If no, please explain how this could be clarified and what type of clarification would be required (e.g. as in “targeting” approach or as in “country of origin” approach).

As explained in the answer to question 4, AER would welcome a clarification of the “making available” right in cross-border situations, and would especially advocate a “country-of-origin” principle. The country of origin should be the country where the radio is based offline . However, as mentioned in the answer to question 4, the country where the radio is based offline would not broadly differ from the country “targeted” by the radio programme: a commercial radio’s news, advertising, promotions or language / dialect, even online, are targeted at the local audience where the radio is based offline.

10. [in particular if you are a service provider or a right holder:] Does the application of two rights to a single act of economic exploitation in the online environment (e.g. download) create problems for you?

As mentioned at the beginning of this position paper, radios mainly offer a well-planned and produced mixture of talk, stories, entertainment, news, music and surprises Free-To-Air / Free-To-Access. Radios are massive users of copyright and related right protected works. As they are SMEs in their vast majority, they are not in a position to contact several entities for the clearance of the necessary rights. It is essential for commercially funded radios that clearance of the necessary rights is done through blanket licensing with a single entity.

In other words, one should consider that a single programme could be transmitted through analogue terrestrial, digital terrestrial, cable, satellite, online, etc. This same programme can be simulcast, i.e. transmitted at the same time on all these platforms. As mentioned, this phenomenon follows citizens’ changing listening consuming patterns, while audience remains the same. Online radio is just the most recent of these vectors. It is also the most favoured by youth. In order to maintain its unique tie with all its listeners, radios should simulcast on the internet. This does not generate a new share of listeners, it merely prevents from losing existing ones.

In addition, with the development of digital technology (be it online or on-air / broadcast), a wide array of offers is possible: new programmes can be webcast, listened on-demand or podcast. For each new concept, an additional layer of fee appears, with additional administrative cost even if dealt with by the same body. Furthermore, collective rights management organisations for neighbouring rights do not seem to be in a position to provide radios with legal certainty for their online activities. This adds to the complexity of the rights payments AER members dutifully abide by every year, and can possibly lead to different interpretation of the rights licensed. Finally, additional administrative costs seem to be added for each new additional layer of fee even if dealt with by the same body. To ensure clarity and fairness, online and offline fees should be carried out under a single blanket licence fee, through one-stop shops, and in a transparent manner.

Another important related point to recall here is that, traditionally, national or local broadcasters would only have to refer to their domestic collective rights management organisations to access the global repertoire . This is increasingly less the case, as important parts of the global repertoire are being withdrawn from collective management organisations’’ offer across Europe. Initiatives such as CELAS are leading to dangerous fragmentation of the rights market: to provide its audience with a full range of music styles, commercially funded radios should now address many different entities, even for their own local position. This entails higher costs, more complexity and, possibly, inability to play certain music. Thus, with the creation of CELAS, and other similar entities, the rights offer is being divided per publishers. Therefore, AER recalls the primary and essential need to ensure that collective rights management organisations are able to license access to the global repertoire. Furthermore, and equally important, one should not forget that, in order to ensure fair competition amongst collective rights management organisations, the latter should all be given the ability to license access to the global repertoire. If only certain collective rights management organisations are able to do so, the market is likely to soon become an oligopoly.

11. Should the provisions of a hyperlink leading to a work or other subject matter protected under copyright, either in general or under specific circumstances, be subject to the authorisation of the rightholder?

[Answer provided as a rightholder] YES, but in certain cases only: a link for a freely accessible website presented as a link should not be subject to authorisation. However, a “framed” link, whereby a website pretends the content the link leads to is its own should be subject to the authorisation of the rightholder.

14. [In particular if you are a right holder or a service provider:] What would be the consequences of providing a legal framework enabling the resale of previously purchased digital content? Please specify per market (type of content) concerned.

As mentioned previously, radios mainly offer a well-planned and produced mixture of talk, stories, entertainment, news, music and surprises free-to-air or free-to-online. So they are not faced with problems of sale or re-sale of their services.

However, one important element for radio’s development on the internet is the ability to provide listeners with time-shifted / on-demand / podcast programmes. Many among these programmes feature accessory music: e.g., background music in a café where an interview is being run. This accessory music is protected by authors’ and neighbouring rights and thus entails clearance of rights. The multiple rightholders have to be identified and remunerated. In the case rightholders are not identified and remunerated, the programmes produced have to be abridged from any accessory music before being set online. This is detrimental to the atmosphere of the radio show thus produced. Furthermore, and most importantly, identification and remuneration of the multiple rightholders in accessory music is a task that cannot practically be undertaken by radios. Collective rights management organisations have the expertise to fulfill this task. They already do so in the offline world for other uses. But for the time being the clearance of accessory music in time-shifted / on-demand programmes is not managed collectively. Hence, AER’s proposal to impose licensing of accessory music in time-shifted / on-demand / podcast programmes through mandatory collective management of rights.

E. Term of protection – is it appropriate?

20. Are the current terms of copyright protection still appropriate in the digital environment?

It is not a question of digital environment. As mentioned, AER members need technology neutral authors’ and neighbouring rights regulatory frameworks.

Besides, as mentioned too, radios are right holders.

However, it is clear that the extension of the term of protection for related rights enabled by the European Commission proposal of 2006 was based on flawed justifications (please see references below). AER would strongly recommend at least returning to the status quo ante 2006.

Further explanation can be found in the following studies:

– Institute for Information Law of the University of Amsterdam, The Recasting of Copyright & Related Rights for the Knowledge Economy, 2006:

Click to access IViR_Recast_Final_Report_2006.pdf

– Gowers Report: Gowers Review of Intellectual Property for the UK Government, 2006:

Click to access pbr06_gowers_report_755.pdf

– Max Planck Institute for Intellectual Property, Competition and Tax Law: Comment by Max Planck Institute on the Commission’s proposal for a Directive to amend Directive 2006/116 EC of the European Parliament and Council concerning the Term of Protection for Copyrights and Related Rights, September 10th, 2008:

Click to access stellungnahme-bmj-2008-09-10-def_eng.pdf

IV. Private copying and reprography

Even though licensing plays an increasing role in the digital world, the levy system is still necessary to reward rightholders. Where the levy system is in place, AER believes that it should be effective for all rightholders and non-discriminatory.

VII. A single EU Copyright Title

78. Should the EU pursue the establishment of a single EU Copyright Title, as a means of establishing a consistent framework for rights and exceptions to copyright across the EU, as well as a single framework for enforcement?

79. Should this be the next step in the development of copyright in the EU? Does the current level of difference among the Member State legislation mean that this is a longer term project?

An optional single EU Copyright Title could be seen as an interesting long-term objective. However, AER recommends first to promptly solve issues related to licensing, either by regulation or facilitating discussions amongst industry players. This can be done by extending some existing rules (such as the Cable and Satellite rules, and the mandatory collective management of accessory music to online as mentioned earlier in this document), and correctly implementing offline and online existing rules, enhancing thereby transparency and competition in rights’ management.

Radios consist of a myriad of small and medium sized enterprises. Moreover, on-air broadcasting radios reach massive audience on a daily basis in all EU Member States: 80% of the EU population on average listens to radio for at least 2 or 3 hours per day, as shown by national audience measurement. Commercially-funded radios indeed constitute a unique network of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), contributing to cultural diversity, media pluralism, access to creativity, social inclusion. They also offer free-to-air services of general interest:

– they evolve in highly competitive environments
– their programmes encompass, broadly speaking, all possible formats, from debates to
music-only
– As for the music broadcast, within one market, as soon as there is demand expressed, it has to be
fulfilled; so, most of the musical expressions are represented
– most of them are non-politically affiliated, and certainly keep the freedom to express their opinion
or to participate to the public expression of the opinions of their listeners
– their audiences are local, regional, or national
– they strive to develop on all possible platforms
– during natural, major or minor disasters, radio is one of the first tool to inform the public

Radio is the most intimate medium, and has been so for the past 50 years at least: it is indeed ubiquitous, mobile, simple-to-use and free-to-air. All these features enable our audience to cultivate a personal relationship with our programmes, our DJs, our hosts, and our brands. Our listeners thereby access programming they enjoy, and useful information.

AER remains available to explain this position in further details, should this be helpful to the European Commission.

ENDS
05/03/2014

Contact details: Vincent Sneed
AER Manager
76, av. d’Auderghem,
B-1040 Brussels,
Tel: +32 2 736 9131+32 2 736 9131
Fax: +32 2 732 8990
vincent.sneed @ aereurope.org
www.aereurope.org

AER Comments on the Green Paper on Convergence

Le-Antonio — Mon, 23 Sep 2013 14:31:36 +0000

23 September 2013 – AER COMMENTS ON THE GREEN PAPER PREPARING FOR A FULLY CONVERGED AUDIOVISUAL WORLD: GROWTH, CREATION AND VALUE

The Association of European Radios (AER) is a Europe-wide trade body representing the interests of over 4500 commercially funded radio stations across the EU27 and in Switzerland.

AER is located at:

Association Européenne des Radios
76, av. d’Auderghem,
B-1040 Brussels,
Belgium

AER’s EU Interest Representative Register ID Number is 6822083232-32.

AER’s main objective is to develop and improve the most suitable framework for private and commercial radio activity. AER constantly follows EU actions in the fields of media, telecommunications and private radio transmission, in order to contribute, enrich and develop the radio sector.

AER will therefore comment the Green Paper “Preparing for a Fully Converged Audiovisual World: Growth, Creation and Value” (hereinafter AV Convergence Green Paper) from a commercial radio perspective. Although radios are not audiovisual, there are indeed some points in this Green Paper which are important for commercial radio – hence the fact that AER will only comment on certain points of the Green Paper.

I. Introduction

AER would first like to recall that, although audio only, radios are also broadcasters.

Radio connects people: it is everywhere, mobile, simple-to-use, interactive, cost-efficient and complimentary. For commercial radio, these features are all based on a very efficient model: terrestrial broadcasting of free-to-air programmes, funded (almost) 100% by advertising.

Radio is also the most intimate medium: its character is by nature local, regional or at the utmost national – and so is its audience: listeners are interested in their local news, their local service information, their local weather forecasts, their local traffic jams, the advertising of their local furniture shop, the comedy piece about a local politician, told in the local dialect of their local DJ. In case of manmade or natural disaster, listeners rely on radio as their most immediate and most trusted source of information (see European Commission Standard Eurobarometer Survey of Autumn 2011 (EB76) ).

The AV Convergence Green Paper points out that “Convergence can be understood as the progressive merger of traditional broadcast services and the internet” . AER agrees with this definition of convergence. The AV Convergence Green Paper however addresses convergence mainly from a TV or from a “moving images with or without sound” perspective .

For AER, this is a very important point: radios are local, regional or, at the most, national actors. With the development of new technology, radio must however increasingly integrate new platforms and develop new offers to reach its audience: programmes are being broadcast, streamed, webcast and offered on demand. However, even in an online environment, commercial radios are targeted at local, regional or national audience.

As shown in the AER comments, radios’ specificities are very different than audiovisual businesses’. This difference, illustrated in the content of this position paper, explains why radio is not in the scope of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMS Directive), and why this should remain the case in the future.

II. Comments on the AV Convergence Green Paper:

Question 1: What are the factors that enable US companies to establish successful presence in the fragmented EU market despite language and cultural barriers, while many EU companies struggle? What are the factors hindering EU companies?

When considering the overall EU market, there are very few US or non-EU companies in the radio market. For radio, language and culture barriers are key factors. The strength of radio indeed lies in the well planned and produced mixture of talk, stories, entertainment, news, music and surprises (through sound only). The factors hindering EU radios are rather linked to decreasing advertising revenues, high authors’ and related rights’ fees, difficult competition or high investments necessary to integrate digital platforms, as shown in the rest of the comments in this position paper – depending on the country, some of these factors are more important than others.

Short remarks regarding competition between public and private radios:

Competition between private and public radios is indeed one of the factors affecting commercial radios across Europe the most. As this is addressed in the AV Convergence Green Paper, AER would like to take this opportunity to recall some important points:

First, AER reiterates its support to the European dual system based on a mix of publicly- and commercially-funded radio broadcasting. However, unfair competition may hinder this model.

EU Member States should show a strong political will and implement the rules put forward by the European Commission in the Broadcasting Communication in 2009. This should lead to the effective establishment of the following principles:

1. Clear and meaningful definition of the public service remit by a legal act
2. Market impact assessment prior to an extension of the remit
3. Transparency: separation of public and commercial activities as well as cost allocation to profit centres
4. Independent control mechanism for
– ex-ante evaluation of activities as well as for
– the supervision of entrustment and for
– the evaluation of the financial behaviour
5. Sanctions for breach of competition rules

The rules set in the Broadcasting Communication are, in the best cases, partially applied by EU Member States, or, in the worst cases, merely ignored. They however constitute essential requirements to avoid distortions of competition in the various EU Member States. These rules were adopted in 2009 after a two-year consultation process, in which the EU Member States actively took part. However, one of the main new safeguards for competition is not implemented or applied in some Member States: there is no ex-ante test before creating new public broadcasting services in Italy or France and the definition of the public service remit is often too vague and too close to the private media’s activities.

Question 3: Are there obstacles which require regulatory actions on access to platforms?

Preliminary remarks on copyrights: radios are both right holders and rights users. At EU level, it is essential, in order to tackle the radio copyright problems in the online environment, that any new regulatory instrument not only addresses the rightholders’ and the retailer’s needs, but also solves the difficulties of radios. The latter pay over €2.6 billion across Europe per year for content, mostly music rights, and payment for these rights is negotiated on a regular basis .

AER is optimistic that these issues will be solved with
– the adoption of the currently discussed proposal of the European Commission for a directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on collective management of copyright and related rights and multi-territorial licensing of rights in musical works for online uses in the internal market , and
– the Licences for Europe stakeholder dialogue initiated by the European Commission
AER warmly welcomed both initiatives, which participate in a correct and necessary reform of an essential system for the sustainability of creativity and culture: copyrights. Please see answer to question 5 for complementary points on copyrights.

Apart from ensuring easier access to rights for online content explained above, AER sees one main issue in this field: as radio’s future platform will be a mix of broadcast (analogue and digital) and online transmission, it is essential to ensure the presence of chips enabling reception of terrestrial broadcast radio in any “techie” device so that radio remains an obvious and easy-to-access medium: e.g., car radios, personal radios, mobile phones, tablets and computers. Radio programmes must be available in app stores and must be found also in Electronic Programming Guides (EPGs). Bottlenecks and vertical integration have to be avoided. This could be done by an effective EU competition policy as well as by a review of the existing must carry rules.

It should also be underlined that the rules contained in the current version of the Telecom Package are very positive for radios. Indeed, as mentioned at article 5 of the Authorisation Directive in the Telecom Package: “Rights of use for radio frequencies […] shall be granted through open, objective, transparent, non-discriminatory and proportionate procedures”.

Although not involving directly EU regulation, other very important points can be seen in the answer to question 8.

Question 5: How will convergence and changing consumer behaviour influence the current system of content financing? How are different actors in the new value chain contributing to financing?

Changing consumer behaviours or convergence will not affect the key elements of commercial radio content financing, at least in the short to medium term: it is and will remain funded (almost) 100% by advertising, on both analogue and digital means. As shown by national figures, most of the revenues still come from advertising on analogue broadcasting for commercial radio across Europe. Therefore, while the specific approaches and solutions offered to advertisers and commercial brands may evolve (and will differ between radio operators) the fundamentals of the funding model will remain broadly the same.

Although most radios in the EU have been present online for the past 10 years, revenues from online advertising still form a relatively small part of their revenues. The main risk commercial radios are faced with is the reallocation of the (small) advertising budgets to other online operators. So, any advertising restriction will have a negative impact on commercial radio.

AER would however recall that the following issues are key for commercial radios’ presence online:

– Radio is online as much as offline: any framework should be technologically neutral and ensure blanket licences for all platforms – commercially funded radios’ business-model is still mainly based on free-to-air FM radio broadcasting. However, with the development of new technology, radio must increasingly integrate new platforms and develop new offers to reach its traditional audience: programmes are being broadcast, streamed, webcast and offered on demand. For each new technology, an additional layer of fee tends to appear, with additional administrative cost even if dealt with by the same body. To ensure clarity and fairness, online and offline fees should be carried out under a single blanket licence fee, in a transparent manner.

– Radio needs country-of-origin principle-based solutions for online distribution – for radios, easy-to-handle licensing is seen as a very positive step towards a true EU internal market, via fair competition amongst collecting societies and legal certainty for radios in their online activities. Even in an online environment, commercially funded radios are targeted at local, regional or national audience. They would consequently make use only of one licence valid in all territories where their target audience can pick up the programmes (spill-over licensing). Compulsory multi-territorial licences do not reflect radio business models and would lead to additional unsustainable costs.

– Radio needs collective management of rights – an important element for radio’s development on the internet is the ability to provide listeners with time-shifted / on-demand programmes and programme extracts. The music contained in programmes made available on-demand entails obtainment and clearance of exclusive related rights. The multiple rightholders have to be identified, asked for permission, and remunerated. This is a task that cannot practically be undertaken by radios. Collecting societies have the expertise to fulfill this task – they already do so in the offline and online world for linear uses. At least the licensing of such rights for on-demand programmes with only accessory parts of protected music (e.g. reports or interviews with some background music) should be enabled through mandatory collective management of rights.

– Radio needs access to the global repertoire – For online uses, important parts of the global repertoire are being divided per publishers, and withdrawn from collecting societies’ offer across Europe, due to market movements. With this development, commercially funded radios are bound to address different entities in order to provide their audiences with a full range of music styles. This entails higher costs, more complexity and, eventually, inability to play certain music. For radio, it is essential to ensure that all collecting societies are able to license access to the global repertoire, to ensure easy access for radios and fair competition amongst collecting societies.

– Management of all collecting societies should be streamlined, more efficient and more transparent, enabling fair competition on the part of the fees paid for the administration of the tariffs.

Finally, non-discriminatory access to platforms and infrastructure is crucial for radios.

Question 7: How relevant are differences between individual platforms delivering content (e.g. terrestrial and satellite broadcasting, wired broadband, including cable, mobile broadband) in terms of consumer experience and of public interest obligations?

For radio, the main difference between content broadcast terrestrially and otherwise transmitted lies in the difference between content broadcast and content accessible online. The future of radio will more and more rely on an integration of both platforms, with broadcast remaining the main source complemented by online. Free-to-Air terrestrial broadcast indeed constitutes the only economically efficient one-to-many possibility to transmit radio services. However, consumers require online features to be available too. With the development of hybrid radio, integration of both aspects gets increasingly convenient.

Please see further points in answer to question 3 and in the remarks regarding competition between public and private radios.

Question 8: What frequency allocation and sharing models can facilitate development opportunities for broadcasting, mobile broadband and other applications (such as programme-making equipment) carried in the same frequency bands?

As explained in the answers to questions 7 and 3, radio’s main business model remains Free-to-Air terrestrial broadcasting of content, mainly on analogue radio (predominantly FM, but also AM in some cases) but increasingly on digital radio (including DAB, DAB+ or DMB).

Therefore radio still requires use of spectrum as a primary user. The scale and nature of terrestrial radio mean that one-to-many broadcasting will remain the most efficient method of reaching listeners for the foreseeable future. It would certainly be impractical and inefficient to try and migrate the bulk of terrestrial broadcasting and listening to the internet. For this reason online distribution is likely to remain an important complementary platform rather than a replacement.

Radio needs to be on every platform: radio’s future is a mix of broadcasting and internet transmissions – it is the most intimate and most trusted medium. Listeners need to rely on the ability to receive radio on these same terms in the future, by analogue and digital broadcasting as well as internet transmissions (Free-To-Air / Free-To-Access). Digital broadcasting will be done in Europe on bands III and / or band L, depending on the country. These means of transmission will all be part of the patchwork of transmission techniques for commercially funded radio in the future. However, as mentioned in the answer to question 7, online transmissions will only complement broadcasting. Radio’s access to bands II, III and L is therefore paramount to ensure a healthy future for radio.

Radio is local, regional or national: regulatory decisions should continue to be taken at the same level – spectrum for radio is currently efficiently managed by European States and this should remain the case: national radio frequency landscapes and national radio broadcasting markets are different, with divergent plans for digitisation, diverse social, cultural and historical characteristics and with distinct market structures and needs. Consequently, further coordination at EU level of spectrum management on the bands used by radio does not seem necessary, or appropriate.

Radio needs guaranteed access to spectrum: in the bands described above, market-based approach management (such as service neutrality or secondary trading) cannot be enforced – As most of them are SMEs, commercially funded radios are in no position to compete for access to spectrum with other market players.

No universal EU-wide switch-off date for analogue radio broadcasting services should be envisaged – across the EU, plans to migrate from analogue technology (FM/AM) to digital broadcast technology are being actively discussed and tested. Decisions on whether to proceed and the appropriate time-frame should be left to each national industry.

Question 10: Given the convergence between media, is there evidence of market distortion caused by the regulatory differentiation between linear and non-linear services? If yes, what would be the best way to tackle these distortions while protecting the values underpinning the EU regulatory framework for audiovisual media services?

For commercial radios the main issue where the EU regulatory differentiation between linear and non-linear services can create distortions relates to advertising: radio is already very tightly regulated at national level on all aspects with different rules in each country (formats, quotas in content, advertising, right of reply, basic identification, masthead, imprint requirements, etc.). Its regulation, and hence the many mandatory elements a radio has to fulfill in order to be authorised to broadcast content, is tailored to its audience: it needs to be decided at the same level.

Regarding advertising, a relaxation of certain rules, especially regarding mandatory messages in radio advertising, would be very helpful, without hampering these messages’ laudable political objective: inform consumers. Additional information in radio advertising is indeed bound to miss its aim: imposing information requirements in radio advertising does not appear to be an effective way to inform the consumer. Empirical data showed that warning messages were considered as “oppressive”, and lead listeners to “tune out” metaphorically, if not literally, in the worst case scenario.

Information requirements in advertising are particularly burdensome for radios – radio is a non-visual linear medium, which concretely means that, when detailed messages are to be communicated in an advertisement, these are to be broadcast in an added time-space to the latter. This increases the amount of time, hence the price, of the considered commercial message. In addition, needless to say, it lessens the commercial impact of the advertisement (a usual ad lasts for 15-40 seconds). These combined effects impact broadcast media, and radio in particular, and constitute factors that can deter advertisers away from using radio.

Information is perceived to be much more useful at a later stage than when advertising: through websites, in information brochures or at the point of sale – Information is more useful when the decision is taken to perform the purchase.

Question 11: Is there a need to adapt the definition of AVMS providers and / or the scope of the AVMSD, in order to make those currently outside subject to part or all of the obligations of the AVMSD or are there other ways to protect values? In which areas could emphasis be given to self- / co-regulation?

AER would like to recall that radio‘s audio character is by nature local, regional or at the utmost national – and so is its audience: listeners are interested in their local news, their local service information, their local weather forecasts, their local traffic jams, the advertising of their local furniture shop, the comedy piece about a local politician, told in the local dialect of their local DJ. In case of manmade or natural disaster, listeners rely on radio as their most immediate and most trusted source of information.

The values protected in the AVMS Directive are protected by the very tight regulations set through a diversity of instruments at national level (on formats, quotas in content, advertising, right of reply, basic identification, masthead requirements, etc.), in an adapted manner to the local landscape. Its regulation, and hence the many mandatory elements a radio has to fulfill in order to be authorised to broadcast content, is tailored to its audience: it needs to be decided at the same level. Radio should therefore not be integrated in the scope of the AVMS Directive.

Short remarks on media freedom and pluralism: commercial radio is a good example of successful media pluralism. Each country has its own media and radio landscape, depending on various local factors (which can be of historical, cultural, or political nature), but all countries in Europe have a range of stations with different owners offering a wide spectrum of content to the audience. Commercially funded radios evolve in highly competitive environments, not only with public broadcasters or community radios, but, first and foremost, with other privately owned and commercially funded radios . The extent of alternative sources of news and information across media has also increased fundamentally in recent years, particularly with the rapid growth of online media and internet penetration. As for the nature of their services, they adapt to their audiences’ needs and demands. So, commercially funded radios deliver comprehensive and varied radio content, from editorial and talk / debate to music formats .

Question 15: Should the possibility of pre-defining choice through filtering mechanisms, including in search facilities, be subject to public intervention at EU level?

AER supports the European Commission´s view regarding the pros and cons of personalised search. Search engines are important partners for radios as well as fierce competitors of AER Members. The dominant position of a market player must not result in a higher ranking or a preferential treatment of the services of this company. Competitors of search engines must be treated on a non-discriminatory and fair basis.

AER therefore welcomes that the European Commission opens competition procedures in cases of potential abuse of a dominant position.

Question 16: What should be the scope of existing regulation on access (art. 6 Access Directive) and universal service (art. 31 Universal Services Directive) in view of increasing convergence of linear and non-linear services on common platforms? In a convergent broadcast / broadband environment, are there specific needs to ensure the accessibility and the convenience to find and enjoy “general interest content”?

As mentioned previously, radio is still mainly a broadcast medium and will remain so for the foreseeable future – even in the case of hybrid radio, combining broadcast and online features, broadcasting is the backbone of the infrastructure, as it is very robust. Broadcasters on radio provide useful and crucial information: in the event of natural disasters, emergencies and extraordinary situations, broadcast radio is often the first tool to provide live information and advice direct to the public. It also enables to avoid overburdening mobile networks. It would therefore be extremely important to ensure that as many “converged” devices as possible offer the possibility to receive broadcast radio. For instance, and as mentioned in the answer to question 3, it is essential to ensure the presence of chips enabling reception of terrestrial broadcast radio in any “techie” device so that radio remains an obvious and easy-to-access medium: e.g., car radios, personal radios, mobile phones, tablets and computers. This could be done by an effective EU competition policy as well as by a review of the existing must carry rules. In addition, it is essential that, when broadcast chips are present on a device, their use is enabled.

When radio is listened online, the quality of services provided should be at least equal to broadcasting on-air: uninterrupted transmission of programmes. However, commercially funded radios in Europe are, in their vast majority, SMEs: they are in no position to financially compete for access to the internet with other market players. So, it is crucial for radios that this understanding of net neutrality is applied. Finally, and equally essential, it must be easy to find radios in an online environment: a must-be-found principle could be applied for online radio.

Question 18: What regulatory instruments would be most appropriate to address the rapidly changing advertising techniques? Is there more scope for self- / co-regulation?

AER believes that, as exemplified by the European Advertising Standards Alliance and the national Advertising self-regulatory bodies as well as by the online behavioural advertising regulatory environment, self-regulation can usefully address consumers concerns and needs online regarding advertising, and faster than regulation.

ENDS
23/09/2013

Contact details:

Julia Maier-Hauff
AER Secretary General
76, av. d’Auderghem,
B-1040 Brussels,
Belgium
Tel: +32 2 736 9131
Fax: +32 2 732 8990

Gender Equality in the EU AV Sector

Le-Antonio — Sun, 01 Sep 2013 14:31:01 +0000

September 2013 – Gender Equality in the EU AV Sector
Social partners from the EU Audiovisual Sectoral Social Dialogue Committee adopted a Framework of Actions (FoA) on Gender Equality to promote gender equality in the audiovisual sector throughout the EU. This framework of action expresses the common views in this field from both the unions (FIA, FIM, IFJ and UNI-MEI) and the employers (ACT, AER, CEPI, EBU and FIAPF).

This FoA is available in English here.

More information and other language versions are available here.

AER comments on the High Level Group on Media Freedom and Pluralism Independent Report

Le-Antonio — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 15:26:36 +0000

14 June 2013 – AER COMMENTS ON THE HIGH LEVEL GROUP ON MEDIA FREEDOM AND PLURALISM INDEPENDENT REPORT

The Association of European Radios (AER) is a Europe-wide trade body representing the interests of over 4,500 commercially funded radio stations across the EU27 and in Switzerland.

AER is located at:

Association Européenne des Radios
76, av. d’Auderghem,
B-1040 Brussels,
Belgium

AER’s EU Interest Representative Register ID Number is 6822083232-32.

AER therefore thanks the High Level Group on Media Freedom and Pluralism for the possibility to present realities commercial radios across Europe are confronted with and welcomes the possibility to comment on its Independent Report (hereinafter the HLG Report) .

I. Introduction

As AER represents commercially funded radios, it feels it cannot comment on all recommendations set in the HLG Report and will focus on certain points raised in this report.

Before commenting on the HLG Report, AER would also like to recall some key points for commercially funded radios:
– Commercial radio is a good example of successful media pluralism. Each country has its own media and radio landscape, depending on various local factors (which can be of historical, cultural, or political nature), but all countries in Europe have a range of stations with different owners offering a wide spectrum of content to the audience. Commercially funded radios evolve in highly competitive environments, not only with public broadcasters or community radios, but, first and foremost, with privately owned and commercially funded radios . Their programmes encompass, broadly speaking, all possible formats, from debates to music-only
– Radio connects people. It is the most intimate medium, and has been so for the past 50 years at least, being ubiquitous, mobile, simple-to-use and free-to-air. These features enable our audience to cultivate a personal relationship with our programmes, our editors, our DJs, our hosts, and our brands
– Radio is trusted. As shown in the last Standard Eurobarometer Survey of Autumn 2011 (EB76). The overwhelming majority of commercially funded radios are non-politically affiliated, and have the freedoms to deliver editorial information, to express opinions and to provide a platform for the public expression of the opinions of their listeners

II. Comments on the HLG Recommendations:

Recommendation 1: The EU should be considered competent to act to protect media freedom and pluralism at State level in order to guarantee the substance of the rights granted in the Treaties to the EU citizens, in particular the rights of free movement and to representative democracy. The link between media freedom and pluralism and EU democracy, in particular, justifies a more extensive competence of the EU with respect to these fundamental rights than to others enshrined in the Charter of Fundamental Rights.

In this context, AER would first like to recall an essential point when considering radio, and especially commercially funded radio: it has local, regional or, at the most, national audiences.

Radio’s regulation should reflect this. The regulation of media, being both cultural and economic at the same time, still lies mainly within the hands of each Member State. Given its influential role towards public opinion, radio is a very tightly regulated medium at national level, under all aspects (formats, quotas in content, advertising, right of reply, basic identification, masthead requirements, etc.). Its regulation, and hence the many mandatory elements a radio has to fulfill in order to be authorised to broadcast content, is tailored to its audience: it needs to be decided at the same level.

Furthermore, AER believes that the EU is already competent to act in a number of areas which are paramount to preserve radio’s freedom and pluralism, especially thanks to competition / State aid law – this is for instance the case regarding access to spectrum and competition with public broadcasting:
– In order to maintain pluralism, access to broadcast means remains paramount. Broadcasters on radio provide useful and crucial information: in the event of natural disasters, emergencies and extraordinary situations, broadcast radio is the first – and possibly the only remaining – tool to inform, advise or direct the public. It is therefore essential to preserve radio’s privileged access to band II, band III and band L .In order to sustain investments, and ensure radios’ stability: if a commercially funded radio has not breached any fundamental rights’ principle, there should be the possibility to automatically renew its licence to access airwaves. In any case, procedures to renew radio licences should be fair as set in the Telecom Package
– Commercial radio offers an alternative perspective from public broadcasters. The largest audience market shares are often still obtained by public broadcasters in most EU countries. So, commercial radio is an essential force in ensuring pluralism. However, they evolve in the same context as public broadcasters, without any help from their governments, while competing for the same targets: listening hours and, frequently, advertising or commercial revenues. This unbalanced situation impacts and threatens commercial radio stations. Regulation and ex-ante evaluation of new public broadcasting sector services, although required by the European Commission’s 2009 Broadcasting Communication , is still not present in all European countries (e.g. France).

AER firmly believes that EU interventions in media regulation should therefore only take place to preserve competition / State aid law or in cases of serious breaches to EU fundamental rights which is, in AER’s understanding, what the HLG Report means by a competence to act at “State level” – i.e., the possibility to act against a Member State in cases of serious breaches to the Treaty of the European Union, with the so called “article 7” procedure. The broadcasting sector is already the most regulated media sector; so any additional state regulatory measure could hamper radio development, and thereby media pluralism. No new EU regulation is therefore necessary in this field – rather a better implementation of existing texts.

Recommendation 2: To reinforce European values of freedom and pluralism, the EU should designate, in the work programme and funding of the European fundamental rights agency, a monitoring role of national-level freedom and pluralism of the media. The agency would then issue regular reports about any risks to the freedom and pluralism of the media in any part of the EU. The European Parliament could then discuss the contents of these reports and adopt resolutions or make suggestions for measures to be taken.

Recommendation 3: As an alternative to the mechanism suggested in the previous recommendation, the EU could establish an independent monitoring centre, ideally as part of academia, which would be partially funded by the EU but would be fully independent in its activities.

AER can agree with the need to assess the level of freedom and pluralism in the media, but this should be done at national level. As mentioned before, commercial radio is aimed to local, regional and, sometimes, national audiences. Each country therefore has an adapted manner to tackle the question of pluralism and freedom of radio. AER would like to recall what it had mentioned in 2009 in its reply to the European Commission public consultation on the Media Pluralism Monitor: it “understands the creation of the media pluralism monitor as a tool providing signals calling for further much more thorough investigations at Member State level of the potentially dangerous situations. It should not be considered, in any case, as a tool to compare the situation of media pluralism between EU Member States.”

Moreover, the evaluation of media pluralism and freedom at national level should not lead to overburden with regulations the broadcasting sector, which is the most regulated area in the media sector.

As mentioned, regulatory actions on media pluralism and freedom are to be taken at national level to prove useful, except in areas where there are existing EU regulatory instruments and useful safeguards (i.e. competition law, with, e.g., Broadcasting Communication and Telecom Package).

Recommendation 4: All EU countries should have independent media councils with a politically and culturally balanced and socially diverse membership. Nominations to them should be transparent, with built-in checks and balances. Such bodies would have competences to investigate complaints, much like a media ombudsman, and have revealed ownership details, declarations of conflicts of interest, etc. Media councils should have real enforcement powers, such as the imposition of fines, orders for printed or broadcast apologies, or removal of journalistic status. The national media councils should follow a set of European-wide standards and be monitored by the Commission to ensure that they comply with European values.

AER would like to recall that, for the broadcasting sector, all EU countries have national regulatory authorities, who, in most cases, already assess their compliance with the rules set in the licence necessary to access spectrum. Besides, self-regulation for advertising exists in almost all EU Member States. To this should be added the fact that competition authorities can also investigate media outlets at national level and that, in many EU Member States, there should be mechanisms (mostly with a dedicated entity) in place to control the creation of new services by public broadcasting organisations – although required by the 2009 Broadcasting Communication, it is not the case for a substantial amount of EU Member States.

Most of these mechanisms include adequate levels of sanction – although the mechanisms in place to control the creation of new services by public broadcasting organisations show a certain lack of enforcement.

Although AER does not oppose to a high level of transparency, it does not support the creation of new entities at national level, as this could overburden the sector. Once again, commercial radio is aimed to local, regional and, sometimes, national audiences. Each country therefore has an adapted manner to tackle the question of pluralism and freedom of radio. A series of European-wide standards would be very difficult, if not impossible, to draft without hindering national situations. In a number of areas and as mentioned in comments to the previous recommendations, the European Commission already controls the correct implementation of EU rules which serve media pluralism. In the light of the considerations mentioned above, AER does not see the necessity to expand the latter.

Recommendation 5: For improving the functioning of the Single Market, further harmonisation of EU legislation would be of great benefit. Currently, the existence of divergences between national rules can lead to distortions in the framework of cross-border media activities, especially in the online world. It would be particularly important to adopt minimum harmonisation rules covering cross-border media activities on areas such as libel laws or data protection.

As mentioned in the comment to Recommendation 1, radio, and in particular commercial radio, has local, regional or, at the most, national audiences. This is due for one part to technical reasons: to a very large extent, radio’s audience still comes from terrestrial broadcasting of its programmes – these are free-to-air and it is evaluated that there is an average of 4 to 5 radio receivers by households across the EU (and online listening is still a miniscule amount of total listening figures). Broadcasters on radio provide useful and crucial information: in the event of natural disasters, emergencies and extraordinary situations, broadcast radio is the first – and possibly the only remaining – tool to inform, advise or direct the public. Terrestrial broadcasting is national at the most, as operators are required to obtain a licence to use part of the spectrum; this licence in turn depends on criteria reflecting the national landscape, culture, history. The fact that commercial radio’s audience is mostly local or regional, is even more due to its content: commercial radio’s audience seeks for the news on the local traffic jams, the local weather, the local politicians delivered by their local radio DJs in their local dialect. The reason why radios are developing activities online is to maintain contact with their audience. However, this does not change the nature of commercial radio: an essentially local actor.

Radio’s regulation should reflect this. The regulation of media, being both cultural and economic at the same time, still lies mainly within the hands of each Member State. Given its influential role towards public opinion, the broadcasting sector is already the most regulated media sector – radio is a very tightly regulated medium at national level, under all aspects (formats, quotas in content, advertising, right of reply, basic identification, masthead requirements, etc.). Its regulation, and hence the many mandatory elements a radio has to fulfill in order to be authorised to broadcast content, is tailored to its audience: it needs to be decided at the same level.

From this perspective, AER would like to underline that it would kindly suggest modifying a statement contained in page 22 of the HLG report: “Mutual interpenetration mean that how any one state regulates media is likely to impact on the situation in other states”. This is certainly not the case for radio, as it is a local, regional or national medium. Besides, if radio is mostly broadcast, it is only audio, and not audiovisual. Hence, the rules applying to radio cannot be automatically considered as the same for the television sector by the mere fact that the latter is also still mainly broadcast. So, AER would strongly support the following statement: “if a regulator were to cover all media, it should be specified that its role has to be different according to each kind of media”. As this was one of the key points presented by AER to the HLG, it believes that this statement is understood as also reflecting the specificities of radio. Once again, the latter also make that radio regulators exist at national level.

Regarding specifically EU regulation on data protection, AER believes that the EU is currently undertaking a very ambitious review of the 1995 Directive regulating the sector. Finally, regarding libel laws, AER would underline the necessity to adopt clear rules for cross-border cases ensuring that media only have to abide by the libel rules in place in their country of origin – i.e., the country where the licence is obtained for a radio. This could be done by a review of the Rome II Regulation, as shown in the related European Parliament own-initiative Report of May 2012 – its implementation is due to be assessed by the end of 2013 .

Recommendation 6: A network of national audio-visual regulatory authorities should be created, on the model of the one created by the electronic communications framework. It would help in sharing common good practices and set quality standards. All regulators should be independent, with appointments being made in a transparent manner, with all appropriate checks and balances.

AER believes that the existence of the European Platform for Regulatory Authorities (EPRA) constitutes a good tool to already exchange on good practices and on quality standards. As mentioned, due to the characteristics of radio exposed in comments to previous recommendations, going further than exchanging on quality standards would not be very useful.

Besides, AER agrees with the criteria set for the independence of regulatory authorities. Additionally, AER would like to stress that regulatory bodies should not only regulate, but can also provide incentives for commercially funded radios, recognising their usefulness.

Recommendation 7: National competition authorities need to make (or commission) pro-active regular assessments of individual countries’ media environments and markets, highlighting potential threats to pluralism. At the EU level, there should be pro-active market assessment under competition policy in the form of a sectoral inquiry.

As mentioned in the comments to recommendations 2 and 3, AER can agree with the need to assess the level of freedom and pluralism in the media, but this should be done at national level. However, as also mentioned above, the evaluation of media pluralism and freedom by competition authorities at national level should not lead to overburden with regulations the broadcasting sector, which is the most regulated area in the media sector, unless there are clear threats to competition, as exposed in the plain requirements of the 2009 Broadcasting Communication.

AER has difficulty understanding the necessity to involve a number of different entities for the assessment of media pluralism and media freedom at national level.

Recommendation 8: European and national competition authorities should take into account the specific value of media pluralism in the enforcement of competition rules. They should also take into account the increasing merging of different channels of communication and media access in the definition of the relevant markets. In addition, the High Level Group calls upon the European and national competition authorities to monitor with particular attention, under competition policy, new developments in the online access to information. The dominant position held by some network access providers or internet information providers should be allowed to restrict freedom and pluralism. An open and non-discriminatory access to information by all citizens must be protected in the online sphere, if necessary by making use of competition law and / or enforcing a principle of network and net neutrality.

As mentioned in the comments to recommendation 5, radio is still mainly a broadcast medium and will remain so for the foreseeable future – even in the case of hybrid radio, combining broadcast and online features, broadcasting is the backbone of the infrastructure, as it is very robust. Broadcasters on radio provide useful and crucial information: in the event of natural disasters, emergencies and extraordinary situations, broadcast radio is the first – and possibly the only remaining – tool to inform, advise or direct the public. It also enables to avoid overburdening mobile networks. It would therefore be extremely important to ensure that as many “converged” devices as possible offer the possibility to receive broadcast radio. For instance, it is essential that, when broadcast chips are present on a device, their use is enabled.

Besides, and as mentioned in the comment to recommendation 1, radio, and in particular commercial radio, has local, regional or, at the most, national audiences. AER welcomes the point recalled by the HLG Report page 23: “most media markets are still essentially national, strongly delineated by national boundaries”. For radio, this is still the case online (see comments to recommendation 5).

Recommendation 11: Any new regulatory framework must be brought into line with the new reality of a fluid media environment, covering all types of journalistic activities, regardless of the transmission medium.

As mentioned in the comments to recommendation 5, AER would like to underline that radio is targeted at local, regional or, at the most, national audiences, even online. So, its regulation, and hence the many mandatory elements a radio has to fulfill in order to be authorised to broadcast content (or transmitted online), is tailored to its audience: it needs to be decided at the same level.

Recommendation 13: Channels or mechanisms through which media are delivered to the end user should be entirely neutral in their handling of the content. In the case of digital networks, Net Neutrality and the end-to-end principle should be enshrined within EU law.

Please see comments to recommendation 8.

Recommendation 15: Any public funding should only be available for media organisations which publish a code of conduct easily accessible to the public (including on their site).

AER agrees with the need to set strict rules for the provision of public funding.

AER would however like to recall that the radio sector is already submitted to strict legal rules set in the licence to access airwaves on all aspects (formats, quotas in content, right of reply, basic identification, masthead requirements, etc.) for the commercial sector. Alternatively, the public sector has to comply with a remit and strict rules as exposed in the comments to recommendation 16 – it is crucial to ensure a leveled competition between commercial and public radio that the rules set in the comments to recommendation 16 are followed. Besides, implementation of these rules is controlled and enforced by national regulatory authorities in all EU Member States. These rules are complemented by self-regulation for advertising.

These rules are all publicly available. AER therefore does not see the necessity to publish on top of these rules a code of conduct. However, following the rules exposed in the comments to recommendation 16 is paramount.

Recommendation 16: Any public funding to media organisation should be given on the basis of non-discriminatory, objective and transparent criteria which are made in advance to all media.

Member State’s main means to fund media is via state aid / subsidies. AER warmly welcomes this recommendation. It would add that, in particular for public broadcasting, it is essential that the following principles are applied:
1. Clear and meaningful definition of the public service remit by a legal act
2. Market impact assessment prior to an extension of the remit
3. Transparency: separation of public and commercial activities as well as cost allocation to profit centres
4. Independent control mechanism for
– ex-ante evaluation of activities as well as for
– the supervision of entrustment and for
– the evaluation of the financial behaviour
5. Sanctions for breach of competition rules

Recommendation 19: Media literacy should be taught in schools starting at high-school level. The role of media players in a functioning democracy should be critically assessed as part of national curricula, integrated either with civics or social studies.

AER fully agrees with this recommendation. The teaching of media literacy should however start earlier than at high-school level.

Recommendation 20: To evaluate the manner in which media consumption patterns are changing, as well as their social impact, comprehensive longitudinal studies are needed at the EU level. More broadly, the EU should provide sustainable funding for academic research and studies on the changing media environment, in order to provide a solid academic basis for policy initiatives in this field.

As mentioned in comments to recommendations 1, and given its influential role towards public opinion, radio is a very tightly regulated medium at national level, under all aspects (formats, quotas in content, advertising, right of reply, basic identification, masthead requirements, etc.). Its regulation, and hence the many mandatory elements a radio has to fulfill in order to be authorised to broadcast content, is tailored to its audience: it needs to be decided at the same level – local, regional or national.

Besides, researches and studies on media consumption patterns can indeed be helpful but it should not lead to overburden with regulations the broadcasting sector, which is the most regulated area in the media sector.

Recommendation 24: Compulsory damages following court cases should include an apology and retraction of accusations printed with equal positioning and size of the original defamation, or presented in the same time slot in the case of radio or TV programmes. In addition to this and to a legally-imposed right of reply, it should become accepted as responsible practice among news media to also publish retractions and corrections of wrong and unverified information on the simple request of citizens providing justification to the contrary. Any such retractions and correction should be published with the same relevance as the original coverage when the correction of the potential harm done by such false information so justifies. Any public funding should be conditional on the inclusion of such provisions in the code of conduct of the media organisation.

AER believes that the provisions presented in this recommendation should be decided on a case-by-case basis, depending on the radio national regulatory organisation and / or court decision. Please also see comments to recommendation 15.

Recommendation 25: To ensure that all media organisation follow clearly identifiable codes of conduct and editorial lines, and apply the principles of editorial independence, it should be mandatory for them to make them publicly available, including by publication on their website.

Please see comments to recommendation 15.

Recommendation 26: There should be a provision of state funding for media which are essential for pluralism (including geographical, linguistic, cultural and political pluralism), but are not commercially viable. The state should intervene whenever there is a market failure leading to the under representation of pluralism, which may be considered as a key public good.

AER can agree with this recommendation as long as the principles exposed in the comments to recommendation 16 are respected.

Recommendation 27: Any public ownership of the media should be subject to strict rules prohibiting governmental interference, guaranteeing internal pluralism and placed under the supervision of an independent body representing all stakeholders.

AER warmly welcomes this recommendation and stresses once again the need to respect the principles exposed in the comments to recommendation 16.

ENDS
14/06/2013

Contact details:

Julia Maier-Hauff
AER Secretary General
76, av. d’Auderghem,
B-1040 Brussels,
Belgium
Tel: +32 2 736 9131+32 2 736 9131
Fax : +32 2 732 8990