EU: EC Studies Harmonisation Of Rules

Mario Monti, the EC Commissioner for the Single Market, is understood to be seeking a decision on whether the Commission should draft a Directive on the harmonisation of rules on media ownership. The Commission will debate this issue on 12 March. It is understood that Monti has achieved an understanding with Martin Bangemann (Industry Commissioner) and Marcelino Oreja (Audiovisual Commissioner) on a revised approach to the subject, whereby a more cautious attitude towards large media empires is adopted.

Monti’s original proposals – now believed to have been watered down – were to place an upper limit of 30 per cent on the TV or radio audience any single individual or company could have in a MS, and a 10 per cent upper limit on overall audience share across all forms of media. Companies exceeding those limits would have had their licences revoked, until audience share figures fell below the limits.