Abstract

The thesis opens with a discussion of academic approaches to public service broadcasting and establishes three overarching themes that are crucial for further analysis: public service broadcasting and democracy, the material base of public service broadcasting and the independence of public service broadcasting from both the state and the market. The thesis pursues the three themes in relation to legislative and regulatory approaches within the European Union, the Czech Republic, the Slovak Republic and the Republic of Ireland. The analysis looks particularly at regulatory justifications (effective communication, diversity, economic interest and public interest) and mechanisms in each of the analyzed countries and relates these to the more abstract overarching themes. In all the analyzed cases the regulation of public service broadcasting is in line with the more general regulatory trend of deregulation. The analysis of public service broadcasting regulation within the European Union and the Council of Europe shows that in the two organizations there is a certain commitment to maintaining the duopoly of private and public service broadcasters yet concrete measures related to public service broadcasting are left in the jurisdiction of member states and the overall audiovisual policy (implemented in particular by the EU) is driven by economic (rather than public) interest. In relation to the three analyzed countries the most important and also the most obvious finding is that in all the three countries legislators do not have a consistent, comprehensive and workable vision of the role of public service broadcasting in contemporary democratic societies and regulation is often driven by partial interests (economic and political) rather than by public interest. …moreless