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Second Annual ACT Conference, Brussels, 4 November 2009
At the "2nd Annual ACT Conference 2009", commercial broadcasters from all over Europe met in Brussels on 4 November 2009 and celebrated 20 years of commercial TV in Europe, delivering creative, informative and entertaining content.
About 300 policy-makers, politicians and industry stakeholders gathered at The Claridge to discuss the changes television has undergone since the early days, looking at today’s pluralistic and diverse media landscape with more than 3,300 channels available in Europe. |
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| The day was opened by Ross Biggam, Director General ACT, introducing the new ACT-President, Philippe Delusinne who gave a keynote highlighting the opportunities and challenges commercial broadcasters face in today’s economic and technological environment. His message to policy-makers and regulators was that a "a regulatory rethink was needed, which allows to move away from prescriptive micro-management and instead provides outcomes, which work with the flow of technological change." |
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During the CEO-Roundtable, Fedele Confalonieri, Chairman Mediaset, Philippe Delusinne, ACT President & CEO RTL Belgium, Pekka Karhuvaara, CEO MTV MEDIA Finland and Dr. Holger Enßlin, Chief Officer Legal & Regulatory Affairs Sky Deutschland, discussed with the moderator Ben Fenton, Chief Media Correspondent of the Financial Times, about the launch of commercial television in the different markets and the main challenges facing our sector today. Issues raised included the need for diversification of business models as well as a flexible regulatory regime in order to be able to operate in the current economic environment, the need for consumer safeguards and strong copyright protection as well as the fight against piracy. Finally, all agreed that despite the difficult market conditions there is very good news for the TV sector, namely that people like the content we produce. Today people are spending more time watching television than ever. Average European viewing time is 3 hours and 47 minutes per day in 2008, three minutes more than in 2007.
A short film produced specifically for the event, gave an insight into the development of commercial television all over Europe in the last twenty years.
The priorities of the next EU-Commission and European Parliament were discussed during the EU-Institutions Panel by the following speakers: |
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Rudolf Strohmeier, Head of Cabinet for Viviane Reding, Commissioner for Information Society & Media, Mary Honeyball, MEP Media Policy Spokesperson Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats, Dr. Eva Lichtenberger, MEP, Vice-Chairwoman Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance, Emma McClarkin, MEP, Culture Committee Coordinator, European Conservatives & Reformists, Paul Rübig, MEP, European People’s Party & Member Industry Committee and Marietje Schaake, MEP, Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe & Member Culture Committee. |
One of the main questions was the future copyright framework and whether there was a need for a reform in this area.
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The day finished off with a series of presentations given by Jim Beveridge, Director International Policy and Standards Microsoft, Vincent de Dorlodot, General Counsel RTL Group, Adele Gritten, Head of Media & Financial Services Consulting YouGov, Nicolas Juhasz-Tertre, Head of Catch-up TV in charge of New Developments Canal+, Stephan Loerke, Managing Director World Federation of Advertisers and David Wheeldon, Director of Policy & Public Affairs, BSkyB. |
All speakers addressed the question of how to adapt business models and services to the current media and economic environment and what kind of regulatory regime was required in order to ensure an innovative landscape in the future. |
In the evening the conference continued with drinks, dinner and party.
In 2010, the ACT will again hold its Annual Conference in November in Brussels. |
Past ACT Events
First Annual ACT Conference - Brussels, 6 November 2008
TV 2010 - Brussels, 27 April 2006
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