Hybridisation of Slovene Public Broadcasting: From National Community towards Commercial Nationalism

Abstract

Public broadcasting institutions have existed as central and publicly funded national institutions, providing services in the public interest. The coincidence of technological, political and economic circumstances in the last 20 years or so, however, has challenged their monopoly position. Technological developments – specifically digitalisation – have expanded spectrum availability. In some cases, public television has been commercialised, privatised or marginalised by the introduction of commercial channels. This article focuses on a specific case study of the Slovene public broadcaster. It addresses the fate of public service television in the digital and post-communist era, tracing the transformation from state broadcasters to the era of digital delivery, audience fragmentation and commercial nationalism. It explores, on the one hand, the way in which public service broadcasters have embraced and capitalised on new forms of digital distribution and, on the other, how they continue to embrace national(istic) and commercial imperatives.