Broadcasting and Culture. Cultural Channels and its impact in Western Europe digital TV platforms

Abstract

From the two classical definitions of culture - popular and elitist-, the reality of cultural channels is analysed through the five most important television markets in Western Europe, - Germany, United Kingdom, France, Italy and Spain-, and their free-to-air TV offer and main multichannel digital television platforms. The fifty channels found are classified according to the scope of the content (generalist or thematic) and their ownership (public or private). These classifications show that content-broad cultural channels are operated by Public Broadcasters Services, whereas private operators prefer thematic cultural channels. Finally, except for the case of ARTE channel, the only pan-European cultural channels are the United States subsidiaries, like Discovery Channel or National Geographic.