Open AccessBlast from the Past? A Comparative Analysis of Broadcast Licensing in the Digital Era
Author(s) -
Corinne Schweizer,
Manuel Puppis,
Matthias Künzler,
Samuel Studer
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
journal of information policy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.377
H-Index - 5
eISSN - 2381-5892
pISSN - 2158-3897
DOI - 10.5325/jinfopoli.4.2014.507
Subject(s) - broadcasting (networking) , constraint (computer aided design) , telecommunications , public broadcasting , radio broadcasting , scarcity , political science , broadcast law , business , advertising , commercial broadcasting , engineering , computer science , computer security , economics , market economy , mechanical engineering
The advent of new broadcasting technologies has eliminated spectrum scarcity as a constraint on broadcasting, and with it one of the justifications for broadcast licensing. Have nations moved away from licensing as a form of regulation of their broadcasting sectors? And concomitantly, is there less opportunity to use licensing as a means of promoting the public interest in broadcasting? The authors address these questions through a comparative study of licensing requirements for terrestrial broadcasting and other forms of television and radio distribution in 18 Western nations.