'Public Service Media in the Age of Platforms: Challenges and Recommendations for the Future'

At the 62nd meeting in Yerevan, during the Agora session, EPRA Chairperson Stephanie Comey reported about a range of cooperation projects with academic organisations that EPRA is currently engaging in. EPRA acts as a supporting partner in a number of projects, where our main role is to disseminate the results to our network. In that context, she reported about the Public Service Media in the Age of Platforms (PSM-AP) Project which is now coming to an end. 

PSM-AP is a 3-year international research project funded under Horizon 2020 that examines how public service media adapt to the platform era, addressing issues of universality, diversity, organisational change, prominence, trust and regulatory frameworks. The consortium is led by Catherine Johnson (University of Leeds). 

 

• Scope: The project covered 6 countries (Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Italy, Poland and the UK), and 12 public service media organisations (RTBF, VRT, CBC, DR, TV 2, RAI, TVP, BBC, Channel 4, S4C, ITV and Channel 5) -

• Methodology: The project applied a systematic comparative analysis across the PSM cases and examined regulation and policy, organisational practices of PSBs and the cultural outputs of PSBs (including VoD interfaces and linear schedules and personalisation).

• Outputs: policy-oriented, including three policy briefs, completed by country specific reports:

  • WP1: Policy and Regulation: Towards a Future-Proof Public Service Media? (Jan. 2024)

  • WP2: Organisational strategies, cultures and working practices: Adapting Public Service Media for the Age of Platforms  (Jan. 2025)

  • WP3: Personalisation and publishing practices: Streaming Public Service Television in the Age of Platforms (Jan. 2025)

• Format: Short and attractive formats with infographics.

The final report "Public Service Media in the Age of Platforms: Challenges and Recommendations for the Future" is a compact 40-page document detailing:

• the four key challenges facing public service media: audience reach, brand awareness and value, organisational transformation and sustainability 

• Seven policy recommendations (e.g. regulation to encourage the distribution of PSM content on social media and VSP including prominence  & discoverability frameworks)

• Seven core values for PSM in the age of platforms

 

Why is this project of relevance for EPRA members?

 

Even though the project is only covering six countries, the findings can be of relevance for regulators from other jurisdictions, especially the NRAs with a particular interest in Public Service Media. The key challenges facing PSM broadcasters, as identified by the study, should feature on the agenda of policy makers and regulators in order to future-proof PSM.

 

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The final project conference in Brussels, on 16-17 September 2025, focused on the platformisation of public service media and its reinvention.  The event featured inspiring presentations inter alia from Helen Burrows (BBC, Director of Distribution – future of DTT in the UK/switchover to IPTV and challenges), Pål Nedregotten (Chief Technology and Product Officer, NRK – transforming a legacy media company) and panel discussions. EPRA member Ofcom content-produced a session on the implementation of new prominence regimes with presentations from Ofcom-UK (Kate Stirling), Arcom-FR (Juliette Théry), Cnam-IE (Liam Boyle), ULB-BE (Tim Raats) and the EU Commission (Raffaele Di Giovanni Bezzi).

 

Public Service Media in the Age of Platforms: Challenges and Recommendations for the Future (PDF - EN)


Source: PSM-AP/EPRA