Infso-2008-00093-00-02-en-rev-01

B) Measures taken or envisaged by the Member State

The Flemish authorities do not envisage taking any measures.

C) Further comments

The Flemish media landscape comprises a public broadcaster and private broadcasters. The number of private broadcasters has significantly increased. The regional broadcasters do not fall within the scope of Articles 4 and 5.

II. BE-FR

BE-FR	MS	EW (%TQT)		IP (%TQT)		RW (%IP)
Broadcaster	Channel	2005	2006	2005	2006	2005	2006
RTBF 1^22	La Une	78.60%	78.10%	46.23%	41.30%	71.42%	82.97%
RTBF 2^23	La Deux	91.40%	78.30%	43.75%	51.10%	81.55%	78.27%
BTV S.A.	AB3	57.52%	52.17%	35.40%	21.84%	26.44%	30.54%
BTV S.A.	AB4	59.97%	62.68%	53.74%	50.31%	13.29%	5.80%
BTV S.A.	AB5/La 4	96.98%	57.90%	96.98%	38.96%	96.10%	8.58%
TVi S.A.	RTL-Tvi	55.00%		22.00%		56.57%
TVi S.A.	Club RTL	38.90%		32.40%		74.48%
TVi S.A.	Plug TV	56.40%		36.30%		90.90%
BeTV S.A.	Be1	60.50%	58.17%	47.30%	44.71%	95.77%	96.40%
BeTV S.A.	Be Ciné	59.20%	59.59%	59.20%	58.78%	85.47%	95.26%
BeTV S.A.	Be Ciné 2/Be Séries^24	60.00%	56.40%	44.50%	42.93%	90.79%	95.18%
BeTV S.A.	Be Sport 1	86.10%	70.67%	86.10%	64.27%	100.00%	99.55%
BeTV S.A.	Be Sport 2	88.80%	71.96%	88.80%	64.37%	100.00%	98.98%
BeTV S.A.	Be Sport 3^25	EX	EX	EX	EX	EX	EX
BeTV S.A.	A la séance	54.10%	51.04%	54.10%	51.04%	84.84%	91.79%
SiA S.A.	11TV	NO	100.00%	NO	0.00%	NO	0.00%
SiA S.A.	11TV PPV	NO	EX	NO	EX	NO	EX
SiA S.A.	Via Calcio	NO	EX	NO	EX	NO	EX
SiA S.A.	A la demande	NO	NC	NO	NC	NO	NC
MCM Belgique	MCM	58.60%	54.72%	47.76%	52.79%	70.94%	68.10%
Event Network	Liberty TV	100.00%	88.52%	10.75%	16.04%	100.00%	76.13%
BBT	Canal Z	EX	EX	EX	EX	EX	EX
PPMG	Move On	NO	97.99%	NO	26.76%	NO	100.00%
PPMG	Move X	NO	74.82%	NO	36.18%	NO	100.00%
Compliance rate (IND 3/5)		94%	94%	100%	88%
Average % (IND 2/4/6)		68.88%	69.56%	50.33%	41.34%	77.41%	70.47%

A) Reasons given by the Member State for failure to achieve the proportions

1. Majority proportion of European works (Article 4)

RTL-TVI, CLUB RTL and PLUG TV:

In 2005, the overall quota for the three TVI s.a. channels operational during this period, RTL-TVI, CLUB RTL and PLUG TV, was 49%.

This proportion is above the minimum level (‘la clause de non-recul’) set by Belgium’s French Community (41.6%).

The broadcaster has stated that it analyses its compliance with the obligation to broadcast a majority proportion of European works for all its services as a whole.

The broadcaster TV1 s.a. did not submit any information regarding the three channels RTL-TV1, CLUB RTL and PLUG TV to the CSA for 2006. TV1 s.a. stated that it took ‘a decision not to apply for its licence to be renewed by the Government of Belgium’s French Community when it expired on 31 December 2005’ while ‘the Luxembourgish company CLT-UFA s.a., the broadcaster of the channels RTL-TV1, CLUB RTL, and PLUG TV, is not subject to the Broadcasting Act of 27 February 2003 in terms of submitting to the Authorisation and Supervisory Board an annual report on the performance of the obligations contained in the Act in respect of its channels’.

SIA ‘On-demand’:

The provider SIA did not submit any information regarding its ‘on-demand’ service to the CSA for 2006. It states that it is not in a position at this moment in time to provide more detailed information or calculations concerning quotas, or to investigate technical possibilities with a view to providing such information. The station states that, in any case, it has reservations concerning the application of quotas to ‘on-demand’ services.

2. Minimum proportion of European works by independent producers

RTL-TVI, CLUB RTL and PLUG TV:

TV1 s.a. did not submit any information regarding the three channels RTL-TV1, CLUB RTL and PLUG TV to the CSA for 2006 (see above).

SIA ‘on-demand’:

The provider SIA did not submit any information regarding its ‘on-demand’ service to the CSA for 2006 (see above).

11 TV:

The broadcaster has expressed reservations as to the interpretation according to which quotas for European independent works apply when new categories of programmes, such as sports journals, are incorporated into 11TV programmes dedicated to sporting events. In any event, the broadcaster is examining the extent to which it could call upon independent producers to produce some of its programmes.

3. Recent works

RTL-TVI, CLUB RTL and PLUG TV:

The operator TV1 did not submit any information regarding the three channels RTL-TV1, CLUB RTL and PLUG TV to the CSA for 2006 (see above).

SIA ‘on-demand’:

The provider SIA did not submit any information regarding its ‘on-demand’ service to the CSA for 2006 (see above).

AB4 et AB5 / LA 4:

For 2006, the station BTV did not submit any comments regarding non-compliance with the quota for recent independent European works fixed by the French Community of Belgium at 10% of total qualifying transmission time.

B) Measures taken or envisaged by the Member State

RTBF 1 et 2:

For 2005, the Authorisation and Supervisory Board of the CSA noted that RTBF did not submit any additional information allowing the broadcaster’s quota declarations to be audited.

As the incomplete data provided by the broadcaster prevented the Board from sending the European Commission an audited report on its compliance with the obligations under the Television without Frontiers Directive, the Board, after due consideration, imposed an administrative fine of five thousand euros (€5000) on RTBF.

RTL-TVI, CLUB RTL and PLUG TV:

In its 2005 annual audit report, the CSA’s Authorisation and Supervisory Board noted that CLUB-RTL failed to achieve a majority proportion of European works in 2005, both for CLUB-RTL itself and the three channels of TVI s.a. However, as the overall proportion for all three channels fell just short of the requirement (49%), the Board decided not to issue a formal notice of non-compliance to the provider.

For 2006, the CSA’s Authorisation and Supervisory Board noted that TVI had not submitted any annual report concerning, in particular, its obligations in terms of quotas, and it consequently opened infringement proceedings.

SIA ‘on-demand’:

For 2006, the CSA’s Authorisation and Supervisory Board noted that SIA had not submitted any annual report containing information regarding its obligations in terms of quotas, and it consequently opened infringement proceedings.

AB4 et AB5 / LA 4:

In its 2006 annual audit report, the CSA’s Authorisation and Supervisory Board noted that the BTV s.a. station failed to comply with the 10% proportion of recent independent European works in 2006, both individually for AB4, AB5 and LA4 and for the broadcaster’s three channels as a whole. It opened infringement proceedings.