Press Release

Strasbourg, 9 January 2003

Film, Television, Video and New Media in Europe: Transparency is on the increase!

The European Audiovisual Observatory, based in Strasbourg, France, is marking its tenth anniversary with a gala dinner, conference and special publication.

The European Audiovisual Observatory was founded ten years ago. Its primary goal was and remains to create greater transparency in the European audiovisual sector. Over the past ten years, in its efforts to achieve this aim, the Observatory has provided a range of information services, the reliability and relevance of which have ensured that it is held in high regard by audiovisual experts.

The Observatory's clients include not just the audiovisual industry and private audiovisual service providers but also a broad range of decision-makers from the worlds of politics and public administration at international, European and national levels.

"Without knowledge about the development and economic correlations between the national markets and the European TV, film and video market as a whole, and without information about the structure of the regulatory framework governing media policy and media law, neither politicians nor the audiovisual industry will be able to make proper, forward-looking decisions for the audiovisual sector," explained Wolfgang Closs, the Observatory's Executive Director. "The high academic standard of our publications, databases and Internet portal has paid off; the quality of the work, together with the shrewd idea of integrating the Observatory into the Council of Europe, have been crucial to its success."

As well as being an academic body, the Observatory has a firm institutional structure. Affiliated to the Council of Europe through a so-called "partial and enlarged agreement," the Observatory is currently supported and funded by 35 Member States and the European Community, which is represented by the European Commission. As members of an Advisory Committee, European professional and academic organisations from the audiovisual sector also play an important role in supporting the Observatory's work.

To mark its tenth anniversary, the Observatory is producing a special publication on the theme of transparency in the European audiovisual sector. A conference on the same theme will be held on 17 January 2003, when 25 experts from all over Europe will be speaking on four key topics:

• Pondering the legal framework for the audiovisual sector in Europe
• Digitalisation and new services
• The financial situation of the audiovisual industry
• and the need for transparency in the European audiovisual sector.

The conference will be opened by the Secretary General of the Council of Europe and is aimed at professionals from all over the continent.

The celebrations will begin on the eve of the conference with a reception hosted by the City of Strasbourg, followed by a gala dinner for invited guests at the Palais Rohan in Strasbourg. They will conclude after the conference with a reception hosted by the Observatory at its headquarters in the Villa Schutzenberger.

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For the detailed conference programme, please click here (pdf).

Contact:

European Audiovisual Observatory
Markus Booms, PR
Email: Markus.BOOMS@coe.int - Tel: +33 (0) 3 90 21 60 06

The European Audiovisual Observatory

Set up in December 1992, the European Audiovisual Observatory's goal is to gather and distribute information on the audiovisual industry in Europe.  The Observatory is a European public service body comprised of 35 member states and of which the European Community is also a member.  It operates within the legal framework of the Council of Europe and works alongside a number of partner and professional organisations from within the industry together with a network of correspondents.  In addition to its contributions to conferences, other major activities are the publication of statistics and newsletters, compilation and management of databases and the provision of information through the Observatory's Internet site.