Eastern Europe

Convergencence in Eastern Europe is slow, since the area’s transmission is largely terrestrial. Each country has its own particular history, set of priorities, problems and preferences. Statism is less apparent on the whole after the fall of Communism, although countries such as Belarus have not really changed at all; in fact a channel was recently heavily fined because a reporter reported the outcome of a corruption case against a public figure, the state arguing that his reputation had been tarnished! Also, Russian TV had to pull out of their tiny €1000 per month studio, when the government decided that its neighbour’s news reporting was not in the state’s interest. The public interest in Belarus has no place, although a group of journalists have pooled resources in order to stimulate change.

In Eastern Europe generally, private and public sectors co-exist across the board, but with widely differing numbers of available channels and percentage market share. Particular difficulties have been experienced in the Czech Republic, Hungary and the Ukraine.