Reinventing public service broadcasting in Europe: prospects, promises and problems

New information technologies, liberalizing policies and rapidly changing societies from mono- to multicultural - entail serious consequences for the prospects of European public service broadcasters ( PSB) in a network society. The European concept of PSB as a comprehensive and universal service is challenged by both European Union and national authorities at three levels: ( 1) mission and programme task ( comprehensive or complementary programming?); ( 2) organization ( central organization or 'distributed public service'?); and ( 3) financing ( licence fee, advertising or 'state aid'?). There are pressures towards a more 'pure' model of public service broadcasting and/or towards de-institutionalization of PSB and 'distributed public service'. Recent pleadings for ( e. g. in the Netherlands) and practices of ( e. g. in New Zealand) new PSB policy directions will be evaluated.