The Deputy Chief Executive of the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI), Ms. Celene Craig, will today (9th October) take on her official duties as Vice-Chairperson of the European Platform of Regulatory Authorities (EPRA) at the group’s 40th meeting in Tbilisi, Georgia.
EPRA is a platform of 52 regulatory authorities across Europe which provides a forum for the exchange of views and information on a wide variety of topics relevant to regulators. The European Commission, the Council of Europe, the European Audio-visual Observatory and the Office of the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media are standing observers of the Platform.
Speaking in advance of the Tbilisi meeting, Ms. Craig said:A key element of EPRA’s work programme in the current year is the review of the European Audio-visual Media Services Directive (AVMSD) and this meeting will be focussed on examining future models of media regulation and what the regulatory responses to the new media landscape should be. Given the rapid evolution of the media landscape, issues that are of concern from a regulatory perspective include the role that digital ‘gatekeepers’ in content provision play and whether the distinction between linear and non-linear or on-demand content, which has been a bedrock of AVMSD, remains relevant given recent market developments. All of these considerations have implications with regard to public policy both at a national and an international level.
In my capacity as EPRA’s Vice-Chairperson, I look forward to facilitating this debate among the participating regulators and to contributing Ireland’s experience. In this regard, the BAI’s Chief Executive, Michael O’Keeffe, and I have been appointed as the Irish nominees to the European Commission’s European Regulators Group for Audiovisual Media Service (ERGA). The Group brings together representatives of national independent regulatory bodies in the field of audio-visual services, to advise the Commission in implementing the EU's Audio-visual Media Services Directive (AVMSD) in a converged media age. I am confident that this participation will strengthen the BAI’s capacity to advise the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources in relation to a national response on any revisions to the AVMSD.
The Tbilisi meeting of EPRA will also debate matters of diversity and inclusion in the media and positive ways in which these principles can continue to be safeguarded, in addition to working groups focussing on user empowerment, digital radio and the independence of non-regulatory authorities.
In other BAI news, IFTN reported earlier this week that BAI had negotiated a contract with Irish TV which can be seen here.
