According to figures in a report covering the period 2007-2008 published by the European Commission, EU television broadcasters are devoting an average of 63% of their air time to programmes made in the EU and 35% to independent works created by European producers. These data indicate a considerable degree of fulfilment of the objectives set by the Directive on audiovisual media services.

This Commission's report published every two years, monitors the promotion of European works on TV throughout the EU, one of the aims of the EU's Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMS) Directive. The Directive requires Member States to ensure that more than 50% of programming time should be made up of European works and 10% of either the transmission time or of the broadcaster's programming budget should be devoted to independent productions.

The report monitoring the Promotion and distribution of EU works and Independent Production shows that the average broadcasting time of European works in the EU was 62.6% in 2007 and 63.2% in 2008. Average transmission times varied between countries, ranging from 27.9% for Cyprus to 85% for Poland in 2007 and from 30% for Cyprus to 83.11% for Poland in 2008.

In general, television channels in most Member States showed more European works than the minimum required by EU rules.

The 1989 Television without Frontiers Directive was updated by the Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMS) Directive at the end of 2007 to reflect new developments in the broadcasting sector, providing that Member States will ensure, where practicable and by appropriate means, that broadcasters registered on their territory reserve the majority of their transmission time for European works.

Following this policy, the European Union develops a set of activities to promote European audiovisual works through EU Media Programme (2007-2013), which aims to enhance the promotion, circulation and viewership of European audiovisual works inside and outside the European Union. Furthermore, since the end of 2009, the AVMS Directive also calls for the promotion of European works in on-demand services, such as video-on-demand and catch-up TV, also promoted through the Media Programme. Although not setting specific minimum levels, it encourages on-demand service operators to foster European works by either financially contributing to their production and rights acquisition or promoting the access of users to them. Member States will report on the application of these provisions by the end of 2011 and the next report due in 2012 will include information on European works in on-demand services.

According to figures in a report covering the period 2007-2008 published by the European Commission, EU television broadcasters are devoting an average of 63% of their air time to programmes made in the EU and 35% to independent works created by European producers. These data indicate a considerable degree of fulfilment of the objectives set by the Directive on audiovisual media services.