A comparative analysis of the evolution ofUK and German broadcasting policies, adding to the developing area of comparative research on media and communications policy. The book focuses on processes of marketization and liberalization as they have affected policy-making, national regulatory frameworks and media structures.

A comparative analysis of the evolution ofUK and German broadcasting policies, adding to the developing area of comparative research on media and communications policy. The book focuses on processes of marketization and liberalization as they have affected policy-making, national regulatory frameworks and media structures.

New technology is revolutionizing broadcasting markets. As the cost of bandwidth processing and delivery fall, information-intensive services that once bore little economic relationship to each other are now increasingly related as substitutes or complements. Television, newspapers, telecoms and the internet compete ever more fiercely for audience attention. At the same time, digital encoding makes it possible to charge prices for content that had previously been broadcast for free. This is creating new markets where none existed before. How should public policy respond? Will competition lead to better services, higher quality and more consumer choice - or to a proliferation of low-quality channels? Will it lead to dominance of the market by a few powerful media conglomerates? Using the insights of modern microeconomics, this book provides a state-of-the-art analysis of these and other issues by investigating the power of regulation to shape and control broadcasting markets.

Capture and Retain Your Media Audience!

This book has been prepared by EIM to encourage informed discussion of the issues surrounding the development of a coherent European policy on trans-frontier television broadcasting.