Link to download the report Mapping of licensing systems for audiovisual media services in EU-28
Most areas of the media sector are well explored when it comes to national legal frameworks, and many of them are also well covered by comparative research. This is the case of various topics, ranging from the protection of minors and consumers, the fight against hate speech, and the promotion of European works, to media concentration and media pluralism, the independence of regulators and cooperation between them. However, in the case of the licensing practices of audiovisual media services, it is not easy to find work on the subject.
The European Audiovisual Observatory gladly accepted the challenge when the European Commission proposed to carry out a mapping in this field. We worked for a year with national experts in order to draft complete overview factsheets for each EU member state and a comparative cross-country analysis. This has allowed us to identify trends, gaps, and loopholes, but also best practices and good examples of what has been put in place by each member state with regard to spelling out the procedural rules to be followed by audiovisual media services providers wanting to offer their services in a given country.