This IRIS Special issue follows a dual goal: first, to survey the current state of digital television, and second, to focus on the latest forms in which media content is being offered.

Europe is marked by a great diversity in public service broadcasting culture which is a result of the different political, economic, cultural and social realities in different European countries. This publication examines the development of public service broadcasting, its current raison d'ãtre and its perspectives in the digital media era. It also addresses the demands and expectations placed on public service broadcasting: how are these demands expressed and how do today's broadcasters meet these demands? Fourteen European countries are covered in detail: Bulgaria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Spain, Switzerland, The Netherlands, United Kingdom. The countries were chosen to provide an overview of the different regulatory models developed throughout Europe. Each contribution describes the foundations of the public service remit, the economic and financing model as well as the decision-making process. In addition, it examines the influence of a country's cultural, political or social aspects on the selection of the public service broadcasting system and its organisational structures.

The current ongoing revision of the EC's Television without Frontiers (TVwF) Directive clearly raises major questions for the future of the regulation of linear and non-linear services. However, it also gives rise to reflection concerning the Council of Europe's European Convention on Transfrontier Television (ECTT), a parallel regulatory instrument concerning cross-border broadcasting. At a time of major transformation of the European legal instruments which are applied to broadcasting and new audiovisual services, this new report from the European Audiovisual Observatory takes stock of recent and current problem areas in broadcasting regulation in the light of the challenges these will raise for the new extended regulation. The report analyses issues of the practical application of the TVwF Directive and the ECTT in their current form. It also raises the question of the future cohabitation of the two instruments following the completed revision of the TVwF Directive, not forgetting that there will clearly be a period where the two instruments will be "out of phase" with each other.