The aim of this report is to provide a brief overview of how different European public service broadcasters (PSBs) have engaged in online activities. This report will focus on highlighting the similarities and differences of the online services provided and how political and economic considerations have shaped their development.
The study is limited to 46 PSBs from the European Union (EU) as well as the
European Economic Area (EEA).
A combination of sources were used for this study: interviews with various European researchers; a survey to select public service media (PSM); analysis of documents, such as legislation, reports and annual reports of PSBs; and academic articles.
Information on the online services was gathered between August and September 2013, and thus some services might have been added, changed or retracted since then.
The report could not have been completed without the help and feedback of numerous researchers and policy experts. Our gratitude is expressed towards the representatives of the PSBs that partook in the survey:
Cecilia Roos from SR,
Jocke Norberg from Swedish Television,
Sarah Kopse from SRG SRR,
Bjarni Guðmundsson from RUV,
Josef Lusser from ORF,
Dr Hans-Martin Schmidt from ARD,
Pascal Albrechtskirchinger and Jürgen Kleinknecht from ZDF and
Per Helge Sørensen from DR.