Suchergebnisse

This article aims to study how private European radio is becoming commercially international through the expansion of radio brands beyond their national market. It is the first ever analysis of the expansion strategies of radio groups across Europe, including their footprint in each market in which they operate, from the political economy of cultural industries. The article maps the main radio groups in Europe, analyses cross-national champions in depth and establishes three main types. This study shows that, thanks to the possibilities of a deregulated market, strengthening the role of the brand and the format, and the agreements with other groups, broadcasting radio has overcome the obstacles that, historically, hindered its cross-border expansion.

Several European Union (EU) member states have consistently opposed European Commission (EC) efforts to create a supranational EU spectrum policy, but only Finland voted against the EC at the World Radiocommunication Conference in 2015, proposing the release of the entire ultra-high frequency (UHF) band for mobile use. Originally, in 2007, the EC and Finland wanted quick release of the UHF for mobile, but the EC has changed its UHF policy completely. Based on a new institutionalism approach, this article argues that one of the main reasons for this development is that the EU's spectrum policy planning system has become intergovernmental. The EU members are now able to force the EC to seek a wide consensus on spectrum policy. The unique Finnish spectrum policy stand is based on certain nation-specific institutional factors: concentration of power in the spectrum policy, strong economic orientation of the communication policy, and oversupply of UHF frequencies.

The European digitization and technological convergence process has served to deepen the crisis that all public broadcasters have been experiencing in Europe over the last 20 years. Yet, when the transition to digital broadcasting is discussed, this has mainly referred to the medium
of television. Radio on the other hand, a medium with greater capillarity (in the sense of having deeper local roots and networks), has been dealing with its own crisis. This article outlines the main characteristics and problems of public service radio in Catalonia, arising from a study carried
out on its structure and the programming it offers.<xref ref-type="fn" rid="fn1">1</xref> <fn-group> <fn id="fn1">

1This research was commissioned by the General Secretary for Media in the Department of Culture and Media of the Catalan Autonomous
Government, the Generalitat de Catalunya, passed on to the authors via the Institut de la Comunicaci (InCom, Communication Institute) of the Universitat Autnoma de Barcelona (UAB, Autonomous University of Barcelona).</fn> </fn-group>

According to the predominating discourse, the radio spectrum has been converted into a technological platform of strategic importance for the economic development of countries. Wireless Internet and the promises of access at 'any time, in any place' add political and economic pressure to a platform, which has been an almost exclusive monopoly of radio and television for years. The main aim of this article is to study the radio spectrum management in Spanish broadcasting from its origins until the present day. The article also seeks to show the existing relationship between how frequencies are managed and the resulting broadcast model.