European institutions affect the day-to-day functioning of film, television, radio and the Internet. Their 'meddling' with media provokes many tensions, most importantly with member states including France, Germany, Belgium and Hungary. In addition, Europe's intervention is often deemed overly economic in approach, focusing on the success of an internal market - to the detriment of public interest objectives such as pluralism, diversity and universality. This handbook sheds light on these tensions through state-of-the-art, scientific contributions on various domains of European media policies. The overall aim of this handbook is to explore key concepts and theoretical approaches to European media policy: its historical development; specific policies for film, television, radio and the Internet; competition law and its effect on the media sector; and international aspects of the fragmented policy domain.

The existence of commercial television in Europe is relatively new compared to the United States and was 'officialised' only in 1989 with the adoption of the Television without Frontiers Directive. The introduction of private television - to some extent coordinated at the European level, but to a large extent shaped by the EU Member States - was fiercely commented upon in the 1980s. Nevertheless, most assertions on the phenomenon of private television are based not so much on empirical findings but rather on ideological arguments in favour or against commercial television. More often than not, arguments are entrenched in 'boom' and 'doom' perspectives on the commercialisation of media. In addition, academic research on private television remains scarce to date: the limited attention from scholars in Europe stands in sharp contrast with the extensive research in the field on public service broadcasting. Clustered around three themes, European and national experiences, content and markets, and policies, Private Television in Western Europe: Content, Markets, Policies aims to fill this gap, transcending the 'boom' and 'doom' scenarios that seem so dominant in media studies research.

Containing state-of-the-art contributions on the various domains of European media policies, this Handbook deals with theoretical approaches to European media policy: its historical development; specific policies for film, television, radio and the Internet; and international aspects of the fragmented policy domain.

Private Television in Western Europe: Content, Markets, Policies describes, analyses and evaluates the phenomenon of private television in Europe, clustered around the themes of European and national experiences, content and markets, and policies.