Broadcasting, universal service and the communications package

Purpose - The purpose of this article is to assess whether the ECS succeeds in respecting the needs of broadcast content, especially given its accepted importance by the European Union and the member states for society at a social, political, educational and cultural level.Design methodology approach - The article looks at the issue of access to broadcast content from the perspective of the viewer or citizen. In doing so, the article focuses on specific provisions in the ECS which aim to ensure access to infrastructure: Articles 5 and 6 Access Directive and Article 31 Universal Service Directive and questions whether these provisions provide sufficiently for a diverse range of broadcast content.Findings - The paper concludes that protection awarded is focussed more on market considerations than non-economic considerations and that citizens' interests, as opposed to those of the consumer, are not adequately protected.Originality value - This paper considers the telecommunications framework from a broadcasting perspective in some detail; most analyses of this legislation emphasise competition law issues in a telecommunications framework.