Karen Donders is a senior researcher who specializes in European media policy and public service broadcasting. She will give a workshop on the evolution of public service broadcasting to public service media, addressing the challenges and opportunities in making this transition. The workshop will discuss models of collaboration between public and private organizations and trends in funding public service media. Later there will be a public conference on public service media in Portugal, with presentations from an RTP board member and Karen Donders, followed by a panel discussion.

1. Evolution Towards Public Service Media
With Prof. Dr. Karen Donders
11 October 2013
Karen Donders lectures in European media and information society policies at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel and is a
guest lecturer at the Universiteit Antwerpen in Belgium. She is a senior researcher and project leader with the centre for
Studies on Media Information and Telecommunication (SMIT). She specialises in European media policy, competition
policy and its effects on the media sector, public service broadcasting and private television. She is author of Public
Service Media and Policy in Europe (Palgrave, 2011), co-editor of Private Television in Western Europe (Palgrave, 2013)
and of Rethinking European Media and Communications Policies (VUBpress, 2009) and has published widely in
international journals including Convergence, Journal of Media Law, Journal of Electronic Governance and Info.
Workshop
From Public Service Broadcasting to Public Service Media: Avoiding Public Service
‘Anything’ Scenarios and Grasping ‘Digital’ Opportunities
Venue: INESC Porto, Language: English
Participants: Maximum 30 (free admittance, registration required to psbworkshop@gmail.com)
10:00 - From PSB to PSM: Main trends, challenges and opportunities
Firstly, what does the evolution from public service broadcasting to public service media actually mean?
Are public broadcasters indeed public service media providers and do they have a ‘natural’ claim to
public service delivery in online markets? And how should governments regulate this? Are public value
tests ‘good’ instruments in this regard?
12:30 - Lunch
13:30 - PSM will be networked or won’t be: Models of collaboration
Secondly, should public broadcasters cooperate more with other players in the public, but also
commercial domain? Should and can one evolve to models of open collaboration? What are problems
in terms of the public service remit, legal issues like anti-trust, efficiency, transparency, etc.?
15:00 - Coffee break
15:15 - Money matters: Main trends, challenges and opportunities regarding funding
Thirdly, how (much) should governments fund public broadcasters? What have been trends around
Europe in this regard? Is a fully publicly subsidized or license fee funded model to be preferred over
dual funding? Is commercial communication the only conceivable form of commercial funding or are
payments by the public in some circumstances acceptable as well?
All sessions include a time slot for discussion
Public Conference
Public Service Media in a Small Country with a Global Culture
Venue: Central Auditorium of FEUP, Free entrance
17:30: Welcome Note
17:40: Presentation by Eng. Beato Teixeira, Member of the Board of RTP
18:00: Presentation by Prof. Dr. Karen Donders, Lecturer at Vrije Universiteit Brussel, iMinds-SMIT
18:20: Q&A starting panel:
(Discussants to be confirmed)
Moderator: Prof. Dr. A. Pimenta Alves (FEUP/INESC Porto)
19:30: Drinks
Organised by: INESC Porto, RTP, FEUP – Prof. Dr. A. Pimenta Alves (FEUP/INESC Porto), Vânia Gonçalves
(FEUP/iMinds-SMIT, VUB)
With support of: Doctoral Program in Digital Media, Doctoral Program in Engineering and Public Policy, Project
ImTV, Program UT Austin |Portugal, FCT
Este workshop é parcialmente financiado pela Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia no âmbito do projecto FCT/UTA-
Est/MAI/0010/2009 e cofinanciado pelo Programa Operacional Regional do Norte (ON.2 – O Novo Norte), ao abrigo do Quadro
de Referência Estratégico Nacional (QREN), através do Fundo Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regional (FEDER).