From Grand Policy to Targeted Destruction: Consumers as Victims of EU Satellite Television Policy

Abstract

In July 1997 the European Commission proposed a "Directive on the Legal protection of Service based on, or consisting of Conditional Access" (to various electronic systems).

This paper considers the proposed Directive within the context of the European Union's failure to develop and maintain a coherent policy relating to satellite television broadcasts direct to the individual's home (DTH) within the nascent Single European Market (SEM), and the consequences of that policy failure for "ordinary" consumers who are highly unlikely to have a full understanding of the complex technical, legal and economic environment in which they are making their purchase(s).

The paper illustrates how the failure to develop a SEM in DTH resulted in a fragmented market in which the frustrated demand for DTH programmes stimulated the growth of a quasi-legal or illegal markets in goods and services. Faced with legislative failure, companies have increasingly attempted to protect their perceived economic interests through an increasingly sophisticated "techno-war" in which ethical considerations relating to consumers found in the "normal market" appear to have been largely abandoned.

The proposed Directive may be viewed as an attempt by interested elements of capital to harness European law to resolve a problem created by their own failure to fully observe European law. The proposed Directive is an indication of the failure to control the broadcasting environment by other means, and the paper gives consideration to the ethics of this development.

Whilst the paper's prime is on DTH within the United Kingdom, consideration is also given to the wider EU (for consistency and simplicity the term EU is used throughout this paper).

Because of the commercial relationships involved, and the questionable legality of some behaviour, it is not possible to identify all sources precisely. Much of the information has been gathered from formal and informal discussions and investigation, and information has frequently been provided on the clear understanding that the precise source cannot be identified.