The Association of Commercial Television in Europe (ACT) represents the interests of the commercial broadcasting sector in Europe. Formed in 1989, the ACT has thirty-one member companies licensed in 30 different European countries and distributed across 45 European markets and beyond. Our members operate several hundred free-to-air and pay-tv channels and distribute many more channels and new services. The ACT members encompass several business models: free-to-air broadcasters and pay-TV players, digital platform operators and multimedia groups.

Mission

The ACT represents the interests of the commercial broadcasting sector towards the EU institutions and international bodies. The most relevant policy issues of importance to the ACT are:

• Audiovisual Media Services Directive
• Advertising
• State aid to Public Broadcasters
• Copyright & IPR
• Digital & New Media
• Media Pluralism
• VAT
• Sport

Organisation

Philippe Delusinne, CEO RTL Belgium, has been elected as President of the Association of Commercial Television in Europe (ACT) at the ACT’s Annual General Meeting in Brussels on 9 June 2009.
Ross Biggam has been Director General of the ACT since 2000. In terms of organisational structure, the ACT coordinates the work via its different working groups, which reflect the core areas listed above.

Members

The ACT has thirty-one member companies licensed in 30 different European countries and distributed across 45 European markets and beyond and operating several hundred free-to-air and pay-tv channels and distributing several hundred channels and new services.

ACT's member companies:

Antena 1 (Romania), Antena 3 (Spain), Antenna TV (Greece), BSkyB (UK), bTV(Bulgaria),
Canal+ (France), CME (Czech Republic), Discovery (UK), ITV (UK), Kanal D (Turkey), M6 (France), Mediaset (Italy), Mega Channel (Greece),
MTG (Sweden), MTV Media (Finland), MTV Networks Europe (UK), National TV (Romania), NTV (Turkey), POP TV/Kanal A (Slovenia), ProSiebenSat.1Group (Germany),
RTLGroup (Luxembourg), Sanoma Entertainment (Finland), SKY Deutschland (Germany), SKY Italia (Italy), Sogecable (Spain), Telecinco (Spain), TF1 (France),
TV3 (Ireland), TV4 (Sweden), TVI (Portugal), TVN (Poland), VMMa (Belgium).

ACT Events

The 3rd Annual ACT Conference was held on 9 November 2010 in Brussels, at the Claridge 3rd Annual ACT Conference.

ACT Publications

• ACT Annual Report published in November 2010
• ACT ACT Brochure on Healthy Programming published in September 2010
• TV Monitor, June 2010 issue

National Trade Associations of Commercial Broadcasters

The ACT is working closely with a variety of partner institutions and industry organisations such as:

• in Asia, CASBAA - Cable & Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia
• in Bulgaria, ABBRO - Association of Bulgarian Commercial Broadcasters
• in France, ACP - Association des Chaînes Privées
• in Germany, VPRT - Verband Privater Rundfunk und Telemedien
• in the Netherlands, VESTRA - Vereniging voor Satelliet Televisie en Radio Programme Aanbieders
• in Portugal, Co-federação Portuguesa dos Meios de Comunicação Social
• in Romania, ARCA - Asociatia Romana de Comunicatii Audiovizuale
• in Spain, UTECA - Union de Televisiones Comerciales Associadas
• in Ukraine, National Association of Broadcasters
• in the UK, Thinkbox
• in the US, NAB - National Association of Broadcasters

Useful Links

• AIG - Advertising Information Group
• CMBA - Creative Media Business Alliance
• EACA - European Association of Communications Agencies
• EASA - European Advertising Standards Alliance
• EGTA - European Group of Television Advertising
• EICTA - European Information & Communications Technology Industry Association
• ITVE - International Television Expert Group
• RAC - Responsible Advertising and Children
• SCBG - Satellite & Cable Broadcasters' Group
• WFA - World Federation of Advertisers