Browsing by Subject "Rundfunk"

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Gemeinwohlanspruch im Wandel : die Auswirkungen der Digitalisierung auf die Rolle des Public Service-Fernsehens in Schweden
(2006) Wienholz, Heike
In Germany and other European countries, the introduction of digital television has been the subject of numerous scholarly publications in recent years. The German-language dissertations analyze the developments in the own country as well as the comparative examinations within Europe. However, the Nordic countries stand, as far as they are included, not in the centre of interest. However, the view of the digitalization of television, especially, in Sweden on the background of the biggest and most populated Nordic country?s public service tradition shows media-policy interesting consequences of the technical changeover. For many decades, Sweden has been an example for the realization of the public service- concept. In Sweden, the structural change from the monopoly scrutinized by the state to the dual broadcasting system started later than in most of the other European countries. The introduction of digital television from the late 1990s on meant a turning point and was linked to intense political controversies particularly between 2002 and 2004. This paper examines the Social-Democratic government?s approach to the nationwide introduction of the digital terrestrial television. The period being observed includes the years from 1995 to 2006, thereby covering the government?s activities? start to the government?s change in autumn 2006. The central question is, which consequences the government?s strategy has on the role of the public service television within the changed frame conditions. Due to the situation regarding reference materials, this analysis is mainly based on Swedish-language original sources and secondary literature. Firstly, an overview is given covering the Swedish television scene and the public education system?s traditional influence on broadcasting. On this background, the Swedish comprehension of the public service term is examined on the basis of the concrete implementation in national television. In the text that follows, each particular stage in the introduction of the digital terrestrial television in Sweden is described. Based upon this, the government?s media-policy strategy is analyzed with a view to which contribution it makes to keep political important traditions as the Swedish television?s demand for social welfare in the transition to the digital world. This happens within the areas which are most important from a social welfare perspective. Here, the originally formulated aims are compared with the real situation in the advanced digitalization process. The results show that there were two main aims in the centre of the government?s media-policy strategy: First, the public service television should be strengthened on the digital television market, which is marked by the pressure of competition, to the effect that an alternative programme to the satellite stations would be guaranteed which is orientated to cultural sovereignty. Moreover, the new technology should be used to achieve the better performance required by the public service sector. To achieve these aims on the introduction of digital television, the state pushed forward the extension of the terrestrial distribution form. In the field of the national regulation of the digital TV, the government?s strategy cannot be marked as successful at the time of writing: Control over the foreign satellite channels could not be regained, and concessions with regard to advertising guidelines, which were licensed for the terrestrial net, must be made to the commercial television stations. If the other big aims, the strengthening of public service and the creation of an alternative channel supply, will be reached, cannot be clearly answered. On the one hand, today the digital terrestrial net is mostly dominated by English-language pay-tv-channels, to which the state originally wanted to create an alternative. Thus common accessibility has not been given. On the other hand, it must be emphasized that the digital technology makes it possible to create special-interest, regional and minority channels. However, these channels are only adopted hesitantly by the public. On the whole, the present examination shows that the Social-Democratic government could not use the new technology in the introduction of the digital television to strengthen the public service television in its functions to the extent it sought originally. However, the view on the political and social basic consensus on the public service broadcasting?s value supports the expectation that its existence won?t be fundamentally at risk even after the digitalization processes has been finished.