Abstract
The article evaluates the European Commission’s decisions on state aid in the broadcasting sector and outlines the logic on which these decisions are based. It maintains that the Commission’s approach to these cases illustrates an increasingly mature understanding towards the issue of state aid and the funding of public service broadcasters and thereby ipso factoacknowledges the importance of public broadcasting in the democratic life of citizens At the same time, however, attempts to ossify this approach and draw up a satisfactory framework, in order to lay the foundations for future Community action in this area, have been frustrated by both broadcasters and Member States, leaving the Commission with a largely ad hoc approach to evaluating the cases. Despite this, the Commission has constructed a regulatory framework for the continued existence of public service broadcasting within the terms of the EC Treaty. Ironically, this has been achieved at a time when public service broadcasters and national governments are finding it increasingly difficult to define the role of public service broadcasting in the audiovisual landscape.
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