Webinar
Thursday, 24th September 2020
Duration: 3 hours
Time: 10.00 (CEST)/09.00 (GMT)
The European landscape of funding PSM is changing. Only half of EU members have a licence-fee model of financing PSM (and after conclusion of brexit, there will be less than half!), the Scandinavian media markets and countries have already replaced the licence-fee model to the tax model (Denmark is on the way...). In paralell, public/audiences, and in some countries governments and political parties are asking PSM to operate with less money and more efficiency. It is challenging PSM remit, scope and scale of their operations, number of channels, and forcing them to change their workflows and structures.
First aim of the workshop was to define the principles of a sustainable model of PSM funding and financing, and determine if the licence-fee model is no longer suitable to deliver on the new expectations and provide sustainable support for PSM remit.
Second aim was to compare known experiences of PSM representing CIRCOM Regional members. The legal and financial frameworks of last changes and expectations were presented and explained, particulary what are the impacts on scope and scale of programmes on the regional content and output.
The webinar enjoyed great interest as the question of funding lingers in front of each and every single media entity, no matter the scope, position or business model.
In her presentation, Dr. Florence Hartmann from EBU Media Intelligence Service, underlined that PSM still have a vital role in supporting creative industries in Europe. With 36 billion euros of overall income they are still one of the biggest media groups on the market. On the other hand, shares of PSM expenditures are dropping down in average GDP in Europe (from 0,18 % in 2014 to 0,159 % in 2018), and overall nominal income is decreasing. COVID-19 crisis impacted media markets with additional drops of commercial income, and in many countries commercial media are asking for state aid and additional funding from public sources. The license-fee model of funding PSM is becoming insufficient and unable to respond to new audience expectations. Besides, the state budget funding of PSM is unstable and unpredictable.
Ulrika von Celsing from SVT Strategy presented a new model of tax funding of three public media organisations in Sweden. It is based on funding which is independent from the state budget. PSM remit in Sweden is defined for 6 years in advance, funding offers natural increase of financial income, and SVT and other public broadcasters do not need to prepare plans for one year, but for several years in advance and to operate under predictable conditions. In further discussion, participants talked about an ideal model of PSM funding, many of them supported the Scandinavian development, which is hard to reach in all countries because of differences among their democratic traditions, cultural diversity and political culture.