AUDIOVISUAL POLICY : A BOOST FOR MOBILE TELEVISION.

The European Commission is taking advantage of the recent success of mobile television in Austria, Italy, Finland and the Netherlands to urge all EU member states to issue authorisations for this service easily and quickly. It published, on 10 December 2008, guidelines(1) in view of speeding up the marketing of this service in Europe by developing competition. It is a question, it says, of favouring a simple, transparent and non-discriminatory licensing procedures to guarantee rapid success.

Mobile television is accessible through a mobile phone or a pocket receiver, with member states having to give their approval for operators to be able to make their commercial offerings.

The guidelines favour a simple, transparent and non-discriminatory licensing procedure. The quality of reception should be an authorisation condition. The guidelines recommend, moreover, the withdrawal of frequencies reserved for mobile television if the service is not provided in a...