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Towards a Common European Industrial Policy? The Case of High Definition Television*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 March 2014

John Peterson
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Extract

THE STAKES IN THE COMPETITION TO DEVELOP HIGH Definition Television (HDTV) are high. In the face of intense competition from Japan, the European effort has had the earmarks of a mission-oriented, Japanese-style industrial policy. But political support for a politically-derived European HDTV standard is matched by market demand. This case study reveals that the nature of government-industry relations in the EC has changed very little when large, politically powerful firms are involved, despite the increasingly prominent policy role of the European Community and the creation of the internal market.

Type
Articles
Information
Government and Opposition , Volume 28 , Issue 4 , 01 October 1993 , pp. 496 - 511
Copyright
Copyright © Government and Opposition Ltd 1993

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References

Abbreviations: BSB - British Satellite Broadcasting; CEC – Commission of the European Communities; CTV – colour television; DBS – direct broadcasting via satellite; EBU – European Broadcasting Union; EC – European Community; EFTA – European Free Trade Association; EP – European Parliament; Eureka– European Research Coordinating Agency; HDTV – high definition television; JESSI – Joint European Silicon Structures Initiative; MAC – multiplexed analogue components; MHz – megahertz; MUSE – multiple sub-nyquist encoding; NHK – Japanese State Broadcasting Organization; NTSC – National Television System Committee; PAL – phase alternation by line; PTT– Post and Telecommunications authorities; R&D – research and development; VCR – video cassette recorders; VHS – video home systems.

1 See Aigrain, P., Allen, G., de Arantes e Oliveira, E., Colombo, U. and Markl, H., The Report of the Framework Review Board, Brussels, Commission of the European Communities, 1989;Google Scholar TRN Groep/Volder and Vis, Analysis of and Comments on the Organisation of DG XII, DG XIIIand the Joint Research Centre, Brussels, 1989; G. Ford, ‘A Plea for More European Research’, New Scientist, 8 June 1991, p. 12; ‘Europe's false start’, Nature, 20 February 1992, p. 660.

2 Dutch Eureka chairmanship, The Report of the Eureka Assessment Panel, The Hague, June 1991, pp. 6 – 7. See also Peterson, J., High Technology and the Competition Slate: An Analysis of the Eureka Initiative, London, Routledge, 1993.Google Scholar

3 The Report of the Eureka Assessment Panel, p. 7.

4 CEC and Council of the European Communities, Treaty on European Union, Luxembourg, 1992, pp. 52–3; CEC, ‘Briefing note on the Delors II package,’ London, 17 February 1992, p. 6.

5 Bögels, P. W., “The Evolutionary Steps to HDTV”, HDTV Report, Eindhoven, Eureka HDTV Directorate, 2 06 1990 , p. 4;Google Scholar Eureka secretariat, ‘HDTV joins MAC family’, Eureka News, Brussels, 3 January 1989, p. 6; Eureka, HDTV Directorate, The Road to High Definition Television, Eindhoven, September 1988.

6 HDTV Directorate, A Challenge Bom in Europe: To Reach HDTV in a Compatible World, Eindhoven, 1988, pp. 1–31.

7 Cawson, A., Morgan, K., Webber, D., Holmes, P. and Stevens, A., Hostile Brothers: Competition and Closure in the European Electronics Industry, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1990, p. 322;Google Scholar Lodge, G. C., Comparing Business‐Government Relations, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, Prentice Hall, 1990, p. 350.Google Scholar

8 Lodge, ibid., pp. 334–7.

9 Non‐attributable interview with member of HDTV Directorate, Eindhoven, 11 June 1990.

10 See CEC, Official Journal of the European Communities, Brussels, OJ L 363, 13 December 1989; CEC, ‘High Definition Television on Council Agenda’, Innovation and Technology Transfer, Brussels, DG XIII‐C, 1989, 9/89, p. 4.

11 Non‐attributable interview with representative of Philips consumer electronics division, Eindhoven, 11 June 1990.

12 Delors quoted in D. MacKenzie, ‘Delors to Push Science Funds into the Arms of Commerce’, New Scientist, 8 February 1992, p. 16. See also Agence Europe, 5750, 15/16 June 1991, p. 12.

13 B. Fox, “TV Standard Protects Chip Makers”, New Scientist, 29 June 1991, p. 31; B. Fox, ‘Europe Misses the Picture’, New Scientist, 3 February 1990, p. 33; Cawson et al., Hostile Brothers, op. cit., pp. 331–2.

14 Philips chairman Jan Timmer quoted in Financial Times, 15 May 1990.

15 Quoted in secretariat, Eureka, ‘Jessi has got what it takes to succeed’, Eureka News, Brussels, 11, 01 1991 , p. 5.Google Scholar

16 P. Aldhous, ‘Retrenchment at JESSI’, New Scientist, 7 November 1991, p. 5; ‘Losing the “R” from R&D’, New Scientist, 28 November 1991, p. 32.

17 US Congress Office of Technology Assessment, The Big Picture: HDTV and High Resolution Systems, Washington DC, USGPO, OTA BP CIT 64, June 1990, p. 7.

18 See Dutch Eureka chairmanship, ‘HDTV related supportive measures: draft recommendations’, The Hague, 19 June 1991, Eureka Document 9 MC‐4, rev 1, p. 4; Eureka secretariat, ‘HDTV: the standard approaches’, Eureka News, Brussels, 13, June 1991, pp. 10–11.

19 See B. Fox, ‘Europe Puts its Money Where its MAC Is’, New Scientist, 7 September 1991; B. Fox, ‘High‐definition TV Gives Way to Clearer Pictures’, New Scientist, 28 October 1989, p. 34.

20 US OTA, The Big Picture, pp. 7–8; T. A. Watkins, ‘ A Technological Communications Costs Model of R&D Consortia as Public Policy’, Research Policy 20 April 1991 p.101; B. R. Inman and D. F. Burton, ‘Technology and Competitiveness: the New Policy Frontier’, Foreign Affairs, Spring 1990, pp. 124–26; Yudken, J. S. and Black, M., ‘ Targeting National Needs: A New Direction for Science and Technology Policy ’, World Policy Journal 8 1990 pp. 251–254 Google Scholar

21 See Eureka HDTV Directorate, High‐Definition Television Update, Eindhoven, Summer 1988; Eureka secretariat, ‘The Unknown Factor’, Eureka News, 3 January 1989, p. 8.

22 The Economist, 23 February 1991, p. 88.

23 B. Fox, ‘Britain Left Behind by High‐Definition Television’, New Scientist, 15 June 1991, p. 24; The Economist, 11 May 1991, p. 93.

24 Fox, ‘Europe Puts its Money Where its MAC Is’, op. cit., p. 30.

25 Report of EC HDTV Working Group quoted in Fox, ‘Britain Left Behind’, op. cit.

26 Quoted in Agence Europe, 5611, 18/19 November 1991, p. 12.

27 B. Fox, ‘Satellite Setback for European TV standard’, New Scientist, 11 January 1992, p. 12.

28 Non‐attributable interview with Eureka official, 9 April 1991, Delft.

29 Agence Europe, 17 June 1992, 5751, p. 12.

30 The UK Secretary of State for Telecommunications, Edward Leigh, quoted in Agence Europe, 15/16 June 1992, 5750, p. 11.

31 Quoted in Financial Times, 19 February 1993, p. 1.

32 Quoted in New Scientist, 27 February 1993, p. 5.

33 See speech by P. W. Bogels, Chairman of HDTV Directorate, Eureka Conference of Ministers, 16 June 1988, Copenhagen; Dutch Eureka chairmanship, Report of the Eureka Assessment Panel, pp. 9, 16, 29.

34 Eureka Secretariat, ‘Evolution not revolution’, Eureka News, 3 January 1990, p. 6.