Public service without broadcasting? Conditions for abandoning terrestrial television in Finland

Finnish Yleisradio (Yle) has been one of the most innovative public service broadcasters in Europe. The new tax-based funding system and broad remit have allowed the company to shift its focus from broadcast television and radio to online services without jeopardising its relevance or resources. Now Yle has set preconditions for the future availability of its online television in case digital terrestrial television (DTT) would be switched off and all ultra high frequencies reallocated. This is not because Yle would want to focus only on growing video audiences online, but because the Finnish spectrum policy favouring mobile industries could endanger Yle’s capability to fulfil its public service remit. We argue that Yle’s conditions for abandoning television broadcasting on DTT are so tight they might never be met by the Ministry of Transport and Communications. In this chapter, we also examine what consequences public service without broadcasting could have.