Abstract

Digital Television (DTV) has developed in Europe more or less independently from the European Union, where 'light touch' regulation has been the major policy line. The development has been partly in the hands of dominant satellite broadcasters and partly in the hands of member state governments, national regulators and broadcasters.

Digital Video Broadcasting Project, a European-based consortium of television industry, successfully developed the common digital broadcasting modulation standards but there is still a lack of common middleware standards used for interactive services and pay-TV access. This situation is segmenting the European digital television markets dominated by satellite broadcasters with their proprietary standards, preventing the viewers from accessing a full range of digital channels with one device, and causing unnecessary costs and delays in the production of interactive DTV services.

This paper deals with future problems of digital television standards from the point of view of public interests, public service and open access questions. It also discusses other future regulatory challenges connected to DTV. These include questions like the Listed Events policy, interactive advertising and most of all the remit of public service broadcasting and public regulation in general.

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