| This study compares the transition from analog to digital TV in the U.S., France, and the UK. It centers on government policies in the regulation and promotion of digital TV. Three questions guide this study. First, why have these governments promoted a transition to digital TV? Second, what has been the character of the transition strategy adopted? Third, what factors account for the differences in the strategies implemented? The basic argument of this study is that technological innovation and changes in the normative models guiding regulatory policy have created a mismatch between goals and capacities in the regulation of broadcasting, generating pressures for implementing regulatory reform and promoting digital TV. British policymakers have used the window of opportunity opened by digital TV (coupled with timid Community policies pre-empting member-state action) to enact aggressive pro-competitive reforms in the industry. French policymakers, in contrast, have orchestrated a defensive transition strategy (largely through policy inaction) aimed at buffering the existing business models and favoring selected domestic market actors. The U.S. strategy has been a mixed bag of pro-competitive choices intended to create an open network environment tempered by a deliberate effort on the part of Congress to defend incumbent local broadcasters. The study applies the tools of institutional analysis to explain these cross-national differences in digital TV strategies. It shows that variations reflect differences in rulemaking procedures, regulatory patterns, the organization of the State, and the existing industry structure across the three case-studies. |
