Techniques to Enhance the Transmission of Quality Programs by Private Television Channels in Europe

Abstract

Over the last years there has been a change in the structure of the European television market. The dominant private television stations as well as new forms of electronic communication, like cable television and Internet, have established a new role in communications. The question is whether private television channels can draw up a quality program in this role. The two standard approaches in Europe, namely, regulating intervention and free competition, do not suffice to provide an answer. For this reason, the present study aims to analyze two alternate tools for the exertion of policy, that is, the creation of incentives and the self-regulation of media organizations, in the hope that answers will be provided as to what ways the European private television can employ in order, on the one hand, to be financially effective and, on the other, to have a quality program.