Page 52 - Communication Theory and Research

McQuail(EJC)-3281-04.qxd 8/16/2005 6:29 PM Page 41

The Inflow of American Television Fiction on European Broadcasting 41

The origin of films

All stations buy most of their feature films abroad. In the two weeks sampled, 800
films were broadcast, of which 259 in prime-time. Only 17.4 percent of them were
of national origin, 82.6 percent of foreign origin (see Table 4.3). No home-made film
was broadcast in Belgium (Flanders or Wallonia). In leading position with regard to
programming of national films are the French channels, closely followed by the
Italian. In the Netherlands and Germany the public channels score reasonably well.
6
In Great Britain it is the commercial channel that is worth mentioning. In prime-
time, the national film holds its position or slightly increases.
By far the most important supplier is the USA. Commercial channels depend
more on American movies (66.7 percent) than their public counterparts (40.2 per-
cent). The difference between public and commercial channels is especially
noticeable in the French-speaking part of Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany,
whereas Great Britain again shows the opposite. In Italy, the difference is nearly
non-existent. In prime-time the share of American films further increases
(67.2 percent). The increase is especially evident among the commercial channels
(77 percent), although there are important differences between the countries.
Flanders turns out to be the region most dependent on American films: in prime-
time they are the rule leaving aside an occasional non-US film.
Other imported movies mainly come from European countries. Public channels
broadcast a greater number of non-national European films (18.4 percent) than
the commercial channels (11.9 percent). In addition they also broadcast more
European co-productions (7.5 percent against 3.7 percent). Generally, the share
of the European film (20.1 percent) is low compared to the share of American
import (57.4 percent). The public channel in Wallonia is, with 53.3 percent
European productions, a remarkable exception. This share almost totally com-
prises French films (46.7 percent). With regard to film (and also culturally and
linguistically) France functions as the ‘homeland’ of Wallonia and replaces the
missing home market.
The French and British films are equally distributed outside their own national
borders; together they represent 8 percent of the films (see Table 4.4). Flemish,
Dutch and German public channels regularly broadcast French films, although
less in prime-time. British films can be found foremost on the Flemish and the
German public channels while the Italian channels also regularly include British
films. British films are shown also in prime-time.
German film scores a presence of only 1.1 percent on average. Programming is
scheduled mainly outside prime-time. It is striking that while Germany does
broadcast British and French films the reverse is much less the case. On French
television no German films were broadcast in the period examined. Also, on the
British public channels German film was absent. British films are rarely shown
on French television or French films on British television.
Films from other European countries are only broadcast sporadically. Eastern
European films, for example, were found only on the German commercial and
the Italian public channels. In prime-time they are largely absent.
To conclude, we consider the evolution of the origin of films between 1988, 1991
and 1997 (see Table 4.4). Between 1988 and 1991, there was a sharp decrease in