BROADCASTING: TELEVISION WITHOUT FRONTIERS DIRECTIVE'S REVIEW AMID UNCERTAINTY.

European Commissioner responsible for the Audiovisual portfolio Viviane Reding was most evasive when she spoke at the Conference on the review of the Television Without Frontiers Directive held in Brussels on March 21. In her opinion, the Commission has three options: either it proposes a radical review of the Directive; or it brings a few minor changes to it; or it devises a work programme before submitting a proposal at a later date. To recap, the Commission has to produce a report for the Parliament and the Council this year on the TWF Directive's implementation (the Directive was adopted in 1989 and amended in 1997) and on the aspects of the text that need reviewing in light of technological advances. In this perspective, Mrs Reding's services launched consultations last year, as well as a series of investigations (efficiency of quotas, recent technological and market advances and progress in advertising techniques).Since the Television Without Frontiers Directive was adopted, the European audiovisual scene has undergone deep changes, underlined Mrs Reding. Starting out with 47 television channels, Europe now has over 1,500. Yet, although certain trends regarding the market and certain technologies are emerging, it is difficult to predict the type of changes we should expect, she added. And this uncertainty does not make the legislator's...