The distribution network of the audio-visual in the EU

What this chapter covers

Introduction: a period of change

Television and radio

Film

Classic vs new distribution techniques

Models of distribution, AV and the regulatory debate

EU television and radio on the digital distribution age

The cable industry, telecommunications and the AV industry (broadband and Internet)

Video formats from DVD to related film

Distribution: European policy

Distribution: national policies

The impact on public sector broadcasting

Learning objectives

When you have completed this chapter you will be able to:

Reflect upon the development of new pressures changing the audio-visual distribution system within the EU media environment.

Outline some of the new models of distribution impacting upon the various audio-visual industries such as television broadcasting, film, video-on-demand and multi-media.

Link the audio-visual industry distribution network to other related distributive practices such as broadband communications.

Analyse audio-visual policy developments at an EU and national level.

Themes

Below you will find a simple statement or series of statements around the six themes. They should not be read as a given fact. They are more like hypotheses (see Chapter 2) which need to be proved, discussed, debated and then used in your own analysis of the subject. The ideas and approaches in this book are always to be considered with an open mind; this is important in university study and is what makes it distinct from pre-university study.

Diversity of media

At a moment of considerable change, Europe is both diverse in its audio-visual provision but, at the same time, as with the rest of the world, technologically converging. Because the audio-visual industries are often displayed upon similar-looking screens (television, film and even computer), we often assume that the industries are held together in one cohesive form. This is not the case, and diversity of technology has until the recent past meant considerable diversity of audio-visual delivery across Europe.

Internal/external forces for change

The forces for change in the audio-visual distribution system are driven fundamentally by new technology and questions of finance. At the same time, the new technologies are being harnessed by both internal and external forces, often at a regulatory level; the digital age is being drawn at a national, European and global level. In a world which is already networked, the connections created by telecommunications, satellite, cable, television delivery systems and multimedia packages are drawing us closer together nationally, in a European form and globally.

Complexity of the media

The variety of industries that have created the audiovisual world, television and film, video, DVD and multimedia packages, has meant that its organisation is complex. This has been compounded across the EU with regulatory regimes that have separated public and private provision. The new digital age is raising issues on the future of public and private provision, especially in television provision, that go to the heart of the relationship between producer and consumer. The role of the distribution system will be a key factor in the immediate and long-term future of all the audio-visual industries.

Multi-levels

To analyse the audio-visual industries we need to frame them inside the EU as well as in their national settings. Even so, all of the audio-visual industries, in one form or another, are altered by the multi-level distribution system emanating from the producers and the technical innovators. This applies to television, film, video and multimedia products.

European integrative environment

It is probably insufficiently understood that the audiovisual distribution network inside the EU has been a major policy agenda item for some time. This is linked to the political and economic integrative environment that encourages the member states to work together. There have been considerable shifts in policy-making at the EU level which have allowed the audio-visual industries to operate at a trans-national, European and even transfrontier level. Although there has been some resistance to proposed changes around national public sector broadcasting, the gradual opening up of the industry to private sector dynamics is very much a part of EU integration, albeit contested by many (see Chapter 5). This has enhanced the opportunities for the various industries to compete in a global and trans-national market.

Cultural values

Many could argue that the diversity of cultures within the EU is not fundamentally threatened by the new digital age. Moreover, the EU has a declared policy of encouraging and supporting diversity of cultural values. Yet, the development of a comprehensive framework of communications and EU-wide rules on competition in the distribution system will have an impact upon our cultural assumptions. This has meant that some sensitive cultural issues inside the EU have had to be addressed.

Essentials

Technology has, in part, and in the immediate past, separated the various elements of the audiovisual industries. Television was different from film, which was different from video cassettes and multi-media gaming for example, and in part this was accentuated by different distribution systems. To simplify, this meant that television was found through analogue systems of delivery, film at cinemas, video (VHS) on separate boxes and multimedia on computers. In many respects this world still persists, but we have reached a moment of considerable change. The digital age is converging all of these technologies into packages of multi-platform delivery systems.

As was said in Chapter 7 on distribution in the print industry, audio-visual convergence is equally a result of changes within distribution as well as production and consumption, even if the impact of the technological changes is emanating from different sets of questions and concerns. In many respects, the EU like the rest of the globe is standing at the door of a new age of distribution that could change the audio-visual industry fundamentally.