European institutions urged to support public media in digital transition

SARAJEVO, Oct. 16 – Broadcasters and government officials pledged to ensure a smooth digital transition in South East Europe and called on European institutions for financial support in the interests of European cohesion.
This was a key message of a two-day roundtable conference entitled Addressing Europe’s Digital Divide: Towards Sustainable Public Service Media in South East Europe, organized by the Regional Cooperation Council (RCC) Secretariat and the Geneva-based European Broadcasting Union (EBU).
the meeting was attended by more than 50 directors general, media experts and government, broadcaster and regulatory officials.
In a “way forward to 2020” signed by EBU Vice-President Claudio Cappon and RCC Secretary General Hido Biscevic, the conference participants agreed to establish an enduring cooperation to ensure the sustainability of all public service broadcasters in South East Europe by 2020; to promote the values and principles of public service media, as recognized by the Council of Europe and the European Union; to call on the European Union to support these goals politically and financially under its aim to guarantee European cohesion.
The conference highlighted the need for the public broadcasters, relevant ministries and regulators in South East Europe to join forces to ensure that the region does not lag behind the rest of Europe in meeting deadlines for digitalization and analogue switch-off.
The participants agreed that the region’s public broadcasters in the digital era need to remain key actors in the evolving knowledge society, provide reliable information, quality educational, cultural and entertainment programmes, and be motors for regional development and investment in the creative industries.
In an opening keynote speech, EBU Director General Ingrid Deltenre said public service broadcasters needed to play a leading role in the digitalization process in South East Europe, as they have played elsewhere on the continent.
Based in Geneva, Switzerland, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) serves 86 national media organizations from 56 countries in and around Europe, promoting the values and distinctiveness of public service media in Europe and around the world.