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62 N. Ir. Legal Q. 553 (2011)
The Transformation of Broadcasting: Public Service Broadcasting, the BBC and the Distortion of New Media Markets

handle is hein.journals/nilq62 and id is 561 raw text is: NILQ 62(4): 553-68 The transformation of broadcasting: public service broadcasting, the BBC and the distortion of new media markets MICHAEL HARKER* UEA Law School and ESRC Centre for Competition Policy, University of East Anglia Abstract Broadcasting markets in Europe hav traitionally' been llighh reulaed, aih lage publi subsidies seen as necessary to ensure that rn/tar and citigenship goals can be ti Wh//e beig outside of Polanyis pa/ien when hie mwrote h/s seminork The Great Transformation, tse warkets exist aloniside other public inter est norms;,in his words, they are embedded ini sodety' In the last 20 years, broadcast/ng markets in Enurope hav'e undeigonie somuething of a 'trnisformationi in te sense that technological advances have facilitated a shift away /rom upubic p/r/vs/on towards a mairket-based miodel The remoal of speruem constints has led to new p/a/orms and a prol/peration of channels. Mluore important&. with the emleigenice o/ cond/tional access systems has romie te growth 01 subscription andppay-per-view' television, offer/ig significanit new revenue streams and the development of new niarkeets /n piemium contenit. Latter , non-i inear telev/sion se;riys hare seeni a shuft in audience vieng behaviour, and the convergence betnwe tier/vs/on and the internt her aids neen. innovative modes of deivery of and changing pring mechan/sms for, broadcastinig serrices. So, as a conisequence o/ teehniological de;vlopmuenits, we see the r/se of a new tipe o/ commodity in/ broadcasting serices. WYhereas one, such goods nere universaly available par tl bec ause their consumption wa~s phi s/ca/h i/on-eeludable, non' technology facilitates charging and the emergencie of a ma;rket based oiinwill/ngness and ability to pai. 1 Introduction Pu blic serviece broadcasting (PSB) continues to h ave a special position in EU law As a Ipardigm tot qualit, univ ersal and free-to-air (FTA) television, howeveCr, it is being placed under substantial pressure. WXith more ehoiee, audiences are becoming increasingly fragmented wvith a resultant fall in idvertising rexvenues fot those wvho, unlike the BBC, rely partially or wholly upon this type ot ineome. The so-called speetrumx compact, under wxhieh commercial broadcasters acceptcd public service obligations in exchange for access to the spectrum, is nowx nearing an end, with the largest and most significant ot the UK's commercial broadcasters indicating irs intentions to merely hand hack its licences once digital sitichover is complete, thereby ceasing its idditional PSB obligations. Similarl, the *Emaili: mx.hairkeruea acuk. The auihar woauld like in thank ihe annmous referees for hlpful comme~nts adsuggesions The suppnrt fth ESRC is greullyh iacowleged 1 K Polanyi Q , Or ns u Time: The Grea Trinsformatin (Londn: Gollan~cz 1945). Far in introduction toth life and wonrks of Poanyi se G Dile, On the cance-ptual innoaN tion and itllectual affilitins of Karl Polanyi (2010)l 15 Naes Poitia Economy 369.

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