OPEN FORUM / TELEVISION WITHOUT FRONTIERS DIRECTIVE : THE REAL STAKES!

Autumn 1989. The Television Without Frontiers Directive has just been adopted. Two American observers can be heard commenting in the halls of the Commission building: "This time, Europe is really going to move forward". A promising comment to welcome the enshrinement of a visionary principle: the application of the country-of-origin principle in the audiovisual sector.

European television viewers could now benefit from TV broadcasters' freedom of action and the free movement of programmes. The legal certainty deriving from the application of a single legal system, that of the country where the operator is established, would offer European broadcasters the stability of a well-defined foundation as well as the possibility of deploying their activity on a European scale with far greater freedom.

Nearly 20 years on, the huge technological progress and the multiplication of formats have made it necessary to broaden...