Since the 1980s the EU has gained considerable influence in the field of audiovisual policy, principally through its regulatory influence in the field of the internal market and competition policy and also through its policies for 'convergence' in the electronic communications sector (broadcasting/telecoms/internet convergence). The lecture asks whether the impact has been 'de-regulatory' or 're-regulatory'. The lecture will explore where the balance of EU policy lies between the economic, social and cultural aspects of the audiovisual sector. In doing this, it will pay particular attention to the impact of the EU on public service broadcasting, and also ask whether the EU has done enough to promote media pluralism. The lecture will examine the EU's policies to promote European audiovisual production, and it will also look at the EU's external audiovisual policy stance with regard to the protection of the 'cultural exception'.

Students are expected to participate focusing on three main themes:
1) From the Television Without Frontiers Directive (1989) to the Audiovisual Media Services Directive (2007): a story of de-regulation or re-regulation?
2) EU Competition Policy and State Aid in the Audiovisual Sector: the Impact on Public Service Broadcasting;
3) The EU and Media Pluralism and Cultural Diversity: Has the EU Done Enough?

Peter Humphreys has been a lecturer in comparative European politics at Manchester University since 1986, during which time he has co-directed the research project Media Economics and Media Culture, within the framework of the Economic and Social Research Council of the United Kingdom; the project examines the evolution of European policies aimed at limiting concentration and promoting pluralism in the media. His recent publications include: Globalisation, Convergence and European Telecommunications Regulation [with Seamus Simpson] (Edward Elgar: 2005) and Policy Transfer in European Union Governance; Regulating the Utilities [with Simon Bulmer, David Dolowitz and Stephen Padgett] (Routledge, 2007).

The seminar will be conducted in English without translation.

> Peter Humphreys will also give a talk with the same title, at the Graus Hall in the Communication Science Faculty of the UAB, at 11:30h on 3 June.