MTV / EBU Conference on Public Service Broadcasting

Was at a conference on public service broadcasting (over time perhaps only here) on Friday, organised by MTV (no, not that one, this one, the Hungarian public broadcaster) and the European Broadcasting Union, sharing the platform with such luminaries as Viviane Reding, EU Commissioner for the Media, and Miklos Haraszti, OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media. Mind you - 'sharing' is probably too grand a word - they got a twenty minute presentation whereas I was just part of a twenty minute panel and was asked 1 (one) question.

Interesting titbit: Reding announced that a Commission Communication on Mobile TV would be published in January 2007, and that in December, the world can expect a new Commission Communication on on-line content, covering net neutrality, digital rights management, interoperability and intellectual property rights.

Rest of the conference concerned a mix of the 'crisis' of public service broadcasting in Europe generally, and the particular problems facing the Hungarian public broadcaster (no money, no audience, poor programming and, apparently, very soon, no headquarters as the lease on their current premises is about to run out).