Austria

[AT] First Commercial Terrestrial TV Broadcaster ATV+ Achieves Required Coverage

IRIS 2004-4:1/11

Robert Rittler

Gassauer-Fleissner Attorneys at Law, Vienna

ATV+ is the only terrestrial TV operator providing programmes throughout Austria. After a few years as a cable channel, it has also been broadcasting terrestrially since June 2003 (see IRIS 2002-4: 5). This commercial broadcaster offers (almost) a full programme service, showing a large proportion of light entertainment. The licensing authority, Kommunikationsbehörde Austria (Austrian Communications Authority - KommAustria) stated that ATV+ should be accessible to at least 75% of the Austrian population either by terrestrial means or via cable within a year of the licence being granted. The Rundfunk- und TelekommunikationsRegulierungsbehörde (Broadcasting and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority - RTR GmbH) recently announced that this condition had been met, with 78.4% of the population able to receive ATV+ : 73.3% terrestrially and a further 5.1% via cable.