Breeda Moynihan-Cronin (Kerry South, Labour)
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Question 87: To ask the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources the Government's position on the recent EU discussions on the extension of the Television Without Frontiers Directive to the internet; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38843/06]

Noel Dempsey (Meath, Fianna Fail)
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The Television Without Frontiers Directive, which was first adopted in 1999 and updated in 1997, aims to create the conditions necessary for the free movement of television broadcasts within the European Community.

The development and application of digital technologies, combined with other developments in the broadcasting markets, are changing the reality of European broadcasting. To address these changes the European Commission published its proposal for a revised Directive in December 2005.

The Commission, as part of its proposal, has proposed two new definitions to describe the services that would be covered by the revised Directive. These definitions are aimed at giving certainty in a rapidly changing audiovisual media services landscape.

The first of these definitions relates to 'linear services', which would include those services that have the same characteristics as a television broadcasting service and are available to all viewers at the same time, for example, traditional scheduled broadcasting, via traditional TV, the internet, or mobile devices. The logic is that the medium used to deliver the service does not matter. The same regulation should apply to the same type of services regardless of the type of technology used to deliver the service.

The second definition relates to the proposed introduction of a new definition of non-linear services. These are services that are not delivered to all viewers at the same time, for example, services such as video-on-demand. These services are sometimes described as services where the viewer 'pulls' content from a network. The Commission proposes that a basic tier of rules would apply in the case of non-linear services.

I have supported the two-tier approach taken by the Commission while expressing the view that there is a need for as much clarity as possible regarding the identification of the new services that would come within the reach of the new Directive.

The Finnish Presidency's text was discussed at Council on 13th November and included amendments which proposed a definition for television programmes and explicitly excluded user generated content, which is primarily non-economic and not in competition with television broadcasting. The Directive will be considered by Parliament, under the co-decision procedure, in December.