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

Compliance Rate (IND 3/5)	68%	61%	47%	41%
Average % (IND 2/4/6)		61.41	60.91	14.16	11.54	65.76	67.71

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

In 2005 and 2006, some Italian broadcasters/content providers failed to meet the scheduling percentages required by the Directive.

The broadcasting market in Italy is changing rapidly: new content distribution technologies are emerging and the number of channels is increasing (this report includes for the first time 4 channels operating only using digital terrestrial frequencies and 4 channels operating on DVB-H frequencies), but many small traditional broadcasters are struggling to remain in business. Many of them are often obliged to reduce personnel and, at times, even to stop broadcasting.

During the period covered by this report, AGCOM received quite a number of self-reports where all reported figures for European works (EW), works of independent producers (IP) and recent works (RW) were ‘0’. Furthermore, the number of channels for which no data at all were communicated rose from 3 in 2005 to 15 in 2006. Since the beginning of 2007 AGCOM has started investigating the causes and adopting measures to prompt broadcasters/content providers to provide the data correctly. It is interesting to note that those channels with higher audiences normally comply with the Directive’s obligations while those breaching the provisions are usually minor satellite channels. For those channels, most infringements appear to relate to independent works.

The main reasons for this situation are:

(1) The lack of information on the regulatory framework imposing the obligation to promote European works and works produced by independent operators, and

(2) the problems in the implementation of the reporting procedure used by AGCOM, called the ‘Informativa Economica di Sistema’ (IES): to monitor their compliance with the obligations regarding European works, Italian channels are obliged to provide their data on the programme schedule and the required proportions using the tools and procedures of the ‘auto-certificazione’ (self-certification) system implemented by the Italian government. In order to simplify the self-certification procedure, from 2001 AGCOM has provided some specific forms as part of the IES, which broadcasters and content providers are obliged to fill in and submit every year by the end of July.³⁷

Obviously, as these data are gathered from self-reports, AGCOM verifies their reliability by checking samples. As from 2003, all operators are obliged to send their IES reports via a web-based platform and a server, which requires an internet connection. Since this new communication channel between AGCOM and the operators relies on a web connection, some broadcasters and content providers are still experiencing problems in sending the required data. As it seems that the data regarding some broadcasters and a few content providers are missing, AGCOM is evaluating whether this is due to connection problems with the server or to the broadcaster’s negligence. In the case of the latter, the broadcaster/content provider will be sanctioned.