Press Release Strasbourg, 19 June 2007 Romanian Presidency of the Observatory organises seminar on the place of public services in the new digital TV landscape
		The Observatory's Executive Council
		Programme of the seminar

The Romanian Presidency of the European Audiovisual Observatory has announced that it is organizing a seminar entitled “The place of public services in the new digital TV landscape - Economic and regulatory aspects”. This seminar will take place on the 21st of June in the current European capital of culture, Sibiu, just before the meeting of the Observatory’s Executive Council, its governing body which brings together representatives of its 37 member States and the European Commission.

The seminar, open to all media professionals, will examine the role of public service broadcasting in today’s digital environment from a market analytical point of view as well as from a legal and regulatory point of view. These questions will also be covered from a Romanian perspective with presentations given on new legislation on public media in Romania and the prospects for the Romanian audiovisual sector in the context of the digital switchover.

Dr. Delia Mucica, representative of the Romanian Presidency of the Observatory, said of the planned seminar: “Given the current context of the recent adaptation of new legal instruments within the Council of Europe concerning the role of public service media in the digital age as well as the adoption of the new Audiovisual Media Services Directive, we thought it was high time to reflect on the changes in our national audiovisual legislation and the television landscape.”

Wolfgang Closs, the Observatory’s Executive Director, looked forward to the seminar as an opportunity of making the work of the Observatory known to a broader public in Romania and welcomed the chance “to obtain valuable feedback from Romanian professionals working in the audiovisual sector and to hear about their principle concerns and information needs for the future.”

Journalists, please contact:
Alison Hindhaugh, Information and Press Officer, tel.: +33 (0) 3 88 14 44 10 -E-mail: alison.hindhaugh@coe.int

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The European Audiovisual Observatory Set up in December 1992, the European Audiovisual Observatory's mission is to gather and distribute information on the audiovisual industry in Europe. The Observatory is a European public service body comprised of 37 member states and the European Union, represented by the European Commission. 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 and with a network of correspondents. In addition to contributions to conferences, other major activities are the publication of a Yearbook, newsletters and reports, the compilation and management of databases and the provision of information through the Observatory’s Internet site (http://www.obs.coe.int).