This Green Paper on strategy options to strengthen the programme industry in the context of the audiovisual policy of the European Union launched the following debate: How could the Union contribute to the development of a forward-looking cinema and television industry that was strong and competitive on the world market and capable of ensuring the influence of European culture and creating jobs in Europe?
On the assumption that the European programme industry had not, for the time being, succeeded in overcoming its fragmentation around local markets, developing the intra-European movement of programmes, escaping from its chronic deficit or attracting significant European or foreign investment, the Green Paper highlighted the trends that the developments of the digital revolution would reinforce: increasing individualisation of supply and increased consumption in the financing of the sector, internationalisation and globalisation of the programme industry and related industries, growing need for programme lists were comprehensive in terms of both quantity and quality. It stressed the need, in extending the strategy already outlined in the White Paper on Growth, Competitiveness and Employment, of a structured approach to the programme industry, aimed at meeting the demands of each market segment and all the people of Europe, taking into account the variety of support and services required. More specifically, the new priorities of the Union's audiovisual policy should be as follows: dissemination of new technologies among companies in the sector, creation of a competitive environment for services, development of communication infrastructures, development of adapted training. These priorities should make it possible to implement the following objectives: opening up the national markets, ensuring real choice for the people of Europe, maximising opportunities in a field of the future, and ensuring, eventually, the profitability of the sector. In order to define the contours of this policy, the Green Paper launched, among actors in the audiovisual sector, a debate on various options centred on three areas of action: the rules of the game, financial incentives and the convergence of national systems.
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