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50 Communication Theory & Research
but they continue to hold on to more programme diversity both in genres and in
countries of origin. The European system of quotas has not been able to stem
the ‘Dallasification’ of television content. Therefore, the conclusion of the
investigation from 1991 is still relevant at the end of the 1990s (De Bens et al.,
1992: 98): ‘National governments face an important task: TV media policy needs
a more cultural approach.’ The broadcasting station and the audiovisual sector
in general are too important to be left only to the market.

Notes

1. In 1988 (18–31 January), the Euromedia Research Group also carried out a similar enquiry
among 20 European television stations.
2. The 36 broadcasting stations are: for Flanders, the Flemish-speaking part of Belgium: the
public stations BRTN-TV1 and TV2 and the commercial stations VTM, Ka2 and VT4; for
Wallonia, the French-speaking part of Belgium: the public stations RTBF1 and Tele21 and the
commercial stations RTL-Tvi and Club RTL; for the Netherlands: the public stations NED1,
NED2 and NED3 and the commercial stations Veronica, RTL4, RTL5 and SBS6; for Germany:
the public stations ARD and ZDF and the commercial stations RTLtelevision, SAT1, PR07,
VOX and RTL2; for France: the public stations FR2 and FR3 and the commercial station TF1;
for Great Britain: the public stations BBC1 and BBC2 and the commercial stations Channel 4
and ITV; for Italy: the public stations RAI1, RAI2 and RAI3 and the commercial stations
Italia 1, Rete 4 and Canale 5.
3. The comparability with the investigation from 1991 is obviously strengthened by the use of the
same code book. We distinguished two main categories which in turn were subdivided into 10
subcategories. On the one hand, there is the ‘popular’ programme category which consists of
(1) films, (2) series and serials, (3) entertainment/infotainment, (4) popular music and (5) sports.
On the other hand, there is the ‘serious’ programme category which consists of (6) information,
(7) culture, (8) education, (9) children’s programmes and (10) others. In this article we go into
only two programme categories, namely (1) films and (2) series, which together form the
broader category of ‘fiction’. The definition of prime-time used was 7 p.m. to 11 p.m.
4. Several authors point out the imitation of American genres on both public and commercial
European channels: daily games and talk shows, reality shows, daily soaps and comedy
(De Bens, 1994: 92–3; Hallenberger, 1998: 37). Hallenberger even speaks of the ‘Americanization’
of viewing patterns: ‘channel hopping’, switching channels during publicity breaks. Obviously,
it is not only American formats that are imitated. Both the Dutch soap Goede tijden, slechte
tijden (Good Times, Bad Times) and the German clone Gute Zeiten, Schlechte Zeiten are
modelled on the Australian soap The Restless Years. Wittekerke (Flanders) too was modelled
on an Australian series.
5. The category ‘information’ was defined rather narrowly: news bulletins and news reels. The
category ‘education’, on the other hand, was broadly defined and includes school television,
scientific programmes, documentaries, but also consumer programmes, economic
programmes and others.
6. This conclusion is of course only valid for the commercial channels in the survey i.e. ITV and
Channel 4. In addition, Great Britain has a comprehensive range of commercial cable and
satellite channels with, on the whole, a very commercial, often thematic offering.
7. The directive also makes mention of a category ‘games’ but this is interpreted very narrowly.

Bibliography

Ang, Ien (1982) Het geval Dallas. Populaire kultuur, ideologie en plezier. Amsterdam: SU.
Berger, Arthur A. (1992) Popular Culture Genres. Theories and Texts. London: Sage.