AMS goes down to the wire

The debate over the AMS Directive seems to have been going on forever. Indeed, the EU has been trying to do something similar for over a decade, and AMS is actually its most successful attempt to date (assuming it finally comes into force) to get a grip on 'convergence' in the media sector.

But of course the debate is not over yet, as our new pamphlet shows quite clearly. The Commission still has some way to go to win over much of the media industry, as well as the British government. Although it has to be said that they have performed well so far in exploding some of the more extreme myths about the Directive (while amending the Directive accordingly) as Mary Honeyball MEP ably explains in the pamphlet.

The piece in the pamphlet from Sonia Livingstone and Andrea Millwood Hargrave is key to understanding the motivation behind the legislation, and we are grateful for their contribution on this. But we mut listen also to the points put forward by Vicky Read of the BSG - the nascent industry of internet broadcasting is somewhat fragile (without a settled business model as yet), and nobody has any interest whatsoever in preventing its growth and development.

As ever, we thank all of our contributors and welcome your comments on this publication, which you can find at www.knowledgepolitics.org.uk/publications.

CB