The Dutch cable association NL Kabel has issued a report about the system of programme councils which control access of the basic analogue tiers on cable networks. The verdict is that procedures followed by most councils is untransparent.
Eight years ago, the Dutch government introduced the system to give viewers a voice in the channel line-up of cablers. At the same time, the government published a model regulation for these councils.
The report, carried out by the law firm of Bird & Bird, shows that only eight out all 58 councils actually use this model, a further eight have published their own procedures and the remaining 42 have no published regulation.
In practice, this means that broadcasters wanting carriage in the basic analogue tier have no clear picture of the procedure followed with most councils. It is our take that if the present system of programme councils is to remain intact, the councils should publish their rules and offer a transparent procedure. This is now clearly not the case.
Until now, no broadcaster has openly criticised the system in fear of being rejected by the council. However, some are known to have called it a “system of Russian roulette”, where one year a channel obtains coverage, only to lose it the next year. This way, it is not possible to build a solid business model for the Dutch market.
This has lead to a practice with some of the most important broadcasters signing contracts with the cable operators guaranteeing analogue carriage no matter what the verdict of the councils is.
However, the system of programme councils has helped some newcomers, including the Dutch music channel TV Oranje, regional RNN7 and evangelical broadcaster Family 7 to obtain analogue carriage.
