§ Mr. LidingtonTo ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage when the European Commission will publish its second monitoring report on the implementation of articles 4 and 5 of the European broadcasting directive; and if she will make a statement. [36941]
§ Mr. SproatThe European Commission has published its report today. The document will be deposited in Parliament and my Department will submit an explanatory memorandum in accordance with the usual arrangements for the scrutiny of European Community documents.
I welcome the Commission's work on this subject, which shows that many of the television channels licensed in this country which qualify for meeting the quota regime are exceeding the minimum requirements set out in the broadcasting directive for programming of European 370W origin and for independent European production. The report also notes the good progress being made by those satellite services which have yet to achieve the quota targets.