It’s generally assumed that the public service obligations of traditional broadcasters extend to their streaming platforms, but how do we know if they’re being observed? Unsurprisingly it turns out that the methods used to monitor programming in linear television broadcasting don’t work for streaming video-on-demand services. In their article, ‘Building an evidence base for public service media’, Professor Catherine Johnson and Anna Theodoulides discuss the challenges of measuring the prominence of public service content on streaming platforms, and explain why a standard framework is needed.
Is the tax system a useful tool to help ensure the survival of domestic media? Marla Boltman makes a convincing case in her article, ‘It’s not too late to save Canadian media from big tech’.
The debate around net neutrality re-emerges periodically in IIC discussions. In his article, ‘Preserving the internet as a commodity good’, Professor K S Park argues that various attempts to modify it, such as the partial ‘sender pay’ rule in Korea, have had a negative effect not just on consumer access, but on innovation too. Preserving the internet, he concludes, means preserving net neutrality.
We are lucky to have Q&As from two outstanding figures in our industry. Nela Riehl is the chair of the CULT committee in the European Parliament. In her interview, she responds to some of the key questions facing the cultural sector in Europe. Did you know that Romania boasts the highest fibre coverage in Europe and some of the best value broadband? You can find out how and why in our interview with Valeriu Zgonea, the president of ANCOM, one of our most recent new members.
Finally, it’s five years since out director general, Lynn Robinson, took up her post. As she reflects in her piece in this issue, ‘The pandemic, the pivot and the programme’, the timing was less than perfect but the IIC has continued to go from strength to strength.
and then