§ Mr. CasaleTo ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what steps his Department is taking to improve compliance with the Television without Frontiers quota requirements. [52141]
§ Mr. Chris Smith[holding answer 30 July 1998]: I regret that it has not been possible to provide an answer before the summer recess. I shall therefore write to my hon. Friend and place a copy of my reply in the Libraries of the House.
§ Mr. CasaleTo ask "the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (1) how many UK licensed television channels met the quota(a) for European works in Article 4 and (b) for independent productions in Article 5 of the Television Without Frontiers directive; [52139]
(2) which UK licensed television channels had a lower proportion of (a) European originating programmes and (b) independent productions in 1996 than 1995. [52140]
§ Mr. Chris Smith[holding answer 30 July 1998]: In April 1998, the European Commission published its third monitoring report of Member States' compliance with the quota provisions under Articles 4 and 5 of the EC Broadcasting Directive. The report covers the period 1995–96. An Explanatory Memorandum was submitted to Parliament on 5 May, and copies of the Commission's report have been placed in the Library of the House.
The report showed an upward progression in the proportion of European and independently produced programming transmitted by UK broadcasters. In 1996, the latest year for which data are publicly available, 40 of the 80 UK-licensed channels subject to the quota provisions met the requirements for European works and 49 met the requirement for independent productions. The following tables, derived from the European Commission's third monitoring report, list those channels that had a lower proportion of European works and independent productions in 1996 than 1995.
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Channels which had a lower proportion of European works in 1996 than 19951 Percentage Channel 1995 1996 Asianet 10 7 BBC1 68 67 Bravo 54 47 Carlton Select 91 80 EBN 90 80 ITV 71 70 Kindernet CV 90 77 MED TV 99 78 Movie Channel 18 17 Muslim Television Ahmadiyya 94 81 Nickelodeon 27 25 Parliamentary Channel 100 95 Sky Movies 25 13 Sky Movies Gold 27 20 TLC 67 50 TV 1000 Sverige AB 36 32
Channels which had a lower proportion of European works in 1996 than 19951 Percentage Channel 1995 1996 UK Gold 54 51 UK Living 66 54 VT4 32 27 1 Article 4 of the EC Broadcasting Directive requires Member States to ensure, where practicable and by appropriate means, that broadcasters reserve a majority of their transmission time for European works, excluding the time appointed to news, sports events, games, advertising and teletext services
Channels which had a lower proportion of independent productions in 1996 than 19951 Percentage Channel 1995 1996 Asianet 9 1 BBC Prime 9 4 BBC World 11 7 BBC2 21 20 Disney Channel UK 6 5 ITV 26 24 Kindernet CV 78 63 Landmark Travel Channel 42 41 MED TV 74 47 Movie Channel 11 7 MTV Central 62 60 MTV North 62 60 MTV South 62 60 Paramount Comedy Channel 7 3 Parliamentary Channel 75 25 S4C 76 74 Sky Movies 10 5 Sky Movies Gold 16 12 Sky One 10 4 Sky Travel Channel 17 13 TLC 45 35 TV3 Norway 18 12 TV3 Sweden 26 22 UK Living 66 54 V11–1 98 88 VT4 26 18 Zee TV 2 0 1 Article 5 of the EC Broadcasting Directive requires Member States to ensure, where practicable and by appropriate means, that broadcasters reserve at least 10 per cent. of their transmission time, excluding the time appointed to news, sports events, games, advertising and teletext services, for independent European works, or alternatively, at the discretion of the Member State, at least 10 per cent. of their programming budget