ABSTRACT
Public service broadcasting is still widely supported in the European Union, despite tech-
nological developments which are now offering a challenge to many o f the traditional
justifications offered for the support o f the concept. This article aims to demonstrate
that public service broadcasting, along with associated measures designed to support
high standards o f quality in other broadcasting services, are still very important in the
modem context due to the m edia’s pivotal role in society. An analysis o f the impact
of ‘European public law ’ which, in this context, is primarily restricted to the law on
the freedom to provide services and the associated effects o f the ‘Television Without
Frontiers’ Directive and the law relating to state aids, aims to highlight the impact
which European Public Law has had on media regulation. Some of the more recent
developments, such as the European Court o f Justice’s decision in Ferring and Altmark, along with the Comm ission’s corresponding change in attitude to state funding o f
public service broadcasting, are welcomed. The Court’s more recent decisions taken
under the freedom to provide services are questioned more closely, as it appears that
these measures can be said to have had a more significant impact upon the traditions
of media regulation within Member State constitutions.
