CONVENTIONAL television, funded by advertising and licence fee will remain the driving force of the European film and programme making industry for the forseeable future.

Despite the growth of many new services, including new digital channels, pay per view as well as multimedia, traditional TV is expected to show a growth in expenditure of 28 per cent over the ten years from 1995 until 2005.

However, the market for programmes is expected to change, with a growing demand for lowcost products and a limited amount of high cost programmes and films, in order to fill the demand for non peak hours and new niche programme services.

According to a report prepared for the European Commission by, a group of consultants, led by the Irish telecommunications consultants, Norcontel, European "content providers" or programme and film makers, can expect a rosier future as demand grows.

The European industry, said the report, will capture a growing share of the market, so long as they understand the necessity of marketing, international sales and above all the importance of local cultures throughout Europe.

The consultants examined the economic implications of new communications technologies on the audio visual markets in seven countries, Ireland, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK.

The report will form the core of a Green Paper on the future of the Audio Visual industry which the Commission will be presenting to the European Parliament towards the end of the year.

The report predicts strong growth in audio visual expenditure across the seven countries increasing from 31 billion ecus in 1995 to 53.9 billion in 2005.

They found that as the audio visual market expands the European programme and film makers will have the potential to benefit as they capture a greater share of the revenue, especially from new services.

Advertising and licence fee, will continue to underpin free television, but there will be strong growth in direct consumer spending on pay TV and video rental, an area where European products have performed less well in the past.

Part of the reason for growth will be because more pay TV operators, will be seeking European programmes in order to become mass market players.

The introduction of digital television will allow a huge degree of flexibility for conventional television services and will allow growth in the pay per view television and allow additional interactive services.