RTV Theory and Practice - Special Issue

However , the eighties have seen a turning away in many Western European countries from the social phitosophy and practical politics of the welfare state , an effort to revitaiize economies by way of a more or less determined return to laisstez -faire capitalism and free enterprise . The ideological superstructure , if it may be so called , of the welfare state and the concomitant state interventionism into many spheres of life - including broadcasting - is rapiđly being dismantled . This has led to a consiđerable degree of deregulation , demonopolization and commercialization of broadcasting , and particularly the new međia (cf . Richeri, 1984; JaKubowicz , 1986). At the same time , the f oundations of the old paternalistic , monocentric system were shaken by new đevelopments in međia technology which have helped break up broadcasting monopolies and enabled many new national and international actors appear on the broadcasting scene ; - spread of satellite transmission and the video explosion; - introduction of cheaper transmission eguipment, lowering the financial and technical barriers to becoming a broadcaster , if only at the local level; - spread of cable transmission and FM radio , multiplying broadcasting channels anđ the range of programming offers . Thus , the three tendencies of change iri broađcasting mentioned above have come to be complemented - and contradicted - by two additional ones ; - commercialization - and internationalization , both of transmission and of investment. Free-for-all competition between the commercial and public sectors of broađcasting could - given the profusion of new channels available through the new media - bring about the collapse of the public sector which would have to join a battle for auđiences , for programs and for advertisers (and engage in ) dog-eat-dog rivalry that precipitates a Gresham's law process of reducing programs to the lowest common denommator (Head, 1988:17),

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