This report is the first in a new series, Monitoring European Deregulation (MED), launched by CEPR and SNS Förlag in 1997. The MED Reports feature new, policy-oriented research on the liberalization of the European markets of the major 'network industries:' telecommunications, energy, air transportation, rail, and water. Addressed to a wide audience of both academics and European decisionmakers in the private-sector and policy communities, at both the national and EU level, the series will play an important role in informing the policy debate and influencing current thinking on these issues.

Europe's Digital Revolution assesses the impact of digital broadcasting on regulatory practices in Europe. The current roles and responsibilities of nation states and the EU will have to respond to rapid technological and market developments. Levy considers how these responsibilities are likely to be divided in the future, and which are the emerging issues and problems.

Using numerous practical examples,this book examines the evolution of EC telecommunications law following the achievement of liberalisation, the main policy goal of the 1990s. After reviewing the development of regulation in the run-up to liberalisation, the author identifies the methods used to direct the liberalisation process and tests their validity in the post-liberalisation context. A critical analysis is made of the claim that competition law will offer sufficient means to regulate the sector in the future. Particular emphasis is given to the way in which EC Competition Law changed in the 1990s using the essential facilities doctrine, an expansive non-discrimination principle and the policing of cross-subsidisation to tackle what were then thought of as regulatory matters. Also examined within the work is the procedural and institutional interplay between competition law and telecommunications regulation. In conclusion, Larouche explores the limits of competition law and puts forward a long-term case for sector-specific regulation, with a precise mandate to ensure that the telecommunications sector as a whole fulfils its role as a foundation for economic and social activity.

Commercial satellite activities have undergone enormous growth in the last decades, and so has the complexity of the legal framework within which these activities have to be carried out. Because of the international character of satellite activities, this legal framework has often been established on an international or regional level, through institutions such as the European Union, the International Telecommunications Union, the World Trade Organisation and the European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations. It is not an easy task to obtain a complete picture of this legal framework. For this reason, it was considered opportune to assemble all relevant legal texts and materials established by these institutions into one book. As telecommunications is currently the most important commercial application of satellites, it should come as no surprise to anyone that the main part of the book is dedicated to this application, simply because of the fact that the legal framework is furthest developed. However, relevant texts and materials for the three other commercial satellite activities - broadcasting, remote sensing and navigation - have also been included. This book is a very valuable tool for all those involved in the European satellite business or for those who want to get involved in it, whether they are lawyers or non-lawyers; everyone is affected by the laws and regulations governing this field and everyone should be aware of the limitations these laws and regulations might impose.

This international volume presents a comprehensive, comparative study of the transformation of the European telecommunications industry from 1990 to the present. The book focuses on the old incumbent operators and their dramatic change from state agencies to listed companies. It analyzes the liberalization process, as well as the corporatization and privatization of these companies.

Approaching the theme from an antitrust perspective and focusing on telecommunications and television broadcasting, this volume examines how traditional European competition law doctrines and principles can be applied to this converging sector. The application of antitrust rules to the communications sector is often one of the most controversial areas of law and policy. The shift towards a more competition law oriented form of regulation is one of the main principles inspiring the recent reform of European sectorial regulation enshrined in the 2002 Electronic Communication Package. The Package was adopted in 2002 and is in the process of being implemented throughout the Union. This monograph provides a detailed description of the new regulatory package and highlights the interplay between regulatory provisions and EC competition law. It then follows the pattern of a typical antitrust analysis containing chapters on the definition of relevant market in the sector and various forms of abuses of market power. The book also critically examines the Commission's practice and policy in the field of merger control and considers its relationship with wider regulatory policies. Finally it analyses the sector from the perspective of the 'European' public interest and the changed nature of communications as a public service.

`It is a clich [ac]e but this book is timely, welcome and indeed a breath of fresh air....It is of particular value for people concerned with public communications, political economy, economics and the relationship between society and technology. Moreover, this book powerfully dispels the tacit assumption, prevalent in business, politics, media and academia that a combination of technical fixes and the free market can right all social problems′ - Irish Journal of Sociology Thirty years ago, one writer complained that ′to admire technology is all out of fashion′. Today excited claims are made for the impact that these technologies are having on social, political and economic life. But how are we to assess these claims? This book critically interrogates many of the prevailing ideas offers a fresh perspective on this new`digital age′. Reshaping Communications: · Provides an alternative and more grounded account of the complex interplay between new technology and information structures and changes in society · Illuminates the fundamental continuities as well as changes in socioeconomic and political processes · Draws on an interdisciplinary perspective and original empirical research. The book will be essential reading for all those concerned with the new communication technologies, including students of media and communications as well as policy-makers.

Drawing on extensive fieldwork, the essays in this book develop contextual and strategic analyses of the way sex-gender constellations can be configured as political identities, as a resource, or in response to unforeseen contingencies.