TV licence fee

I refer to Simon Busuttil's article entitled PBS Licence (May 10) which in itself is a misnomer.

PBS, without entering into discussion if the so-called PBS licence is compatible or not with EU law, would like to clarify two main issues.

The first relates to the author's first paragraph where he states: "The TV licence fee we pay is, in principle, collected by the government in order to pay for the 'public service' that should be rendered by the National Broadcasting Station, PBS". PBS would like to make it very clear that today it does not receive a cent from TV licences. As from September 2004, following the introduction of the Broadcasting Policy, the revenue for TV licences which approximately amounts to Lm2 million per annum goes to the Malta Communication Authority and not to PBS.

The second issue is related to the first. Dr Busuttil refers to a protocol attached to the Amsterdam Treaty of 1997. The protocol states (quoted from the article) that "EU rules shall not affect the powers of individual EU countries to provide for the funding of public service broadcasting insofar as such funding is granted to broadcasting organisations for the fulfilment of the public service remit as conferred, defined and organised by each member state".

Dr Busuttil continues: "The wording is clear and leaves no doubt that we can use public money to fund the public service element of the programmes transmitted by PBS".

PBS can confirm that this is exactly the reality. PBS is at present receiving Lm500,000 per annum solely to cover its extended public service obligation programmes (EPSO) and not to cover any programme which is commercial in nature.

Having stated that, whether covered by the EPSO contribution or not, PBS needs to maximise revenue on each and every programme if it is to further its role as the leading local provider of quality programming.