It is doubtful whether simply treating the audiovisual sector in the same way as industry can work in terms of safeguarding cultural diversity, e.g. in international negotiating forums (WTO). The interconnections between IT and audiovisual media, and their transformation, is having a profound effect on their content and accessibility, on a range of connected rights, and on culture in the broad sense. The technologica
l changes which are under way, such as switchover, i.e. the transition from analogue to digital radio and television broadcasting, constitute a 'complex process with social and economic implications going well beyond the pure
...[+++] technical migration', as the Commission rightly argues in its Communication on the transition from analogue to digital broadcasting (COM(541) 2003, p. 4).
De technologische veranderingen, bijvoorbeeld de zogeheten switchover, d.w.z. de overgang van analoog naar digitaal, vormt (zoals de Commissie terecht stelt in haar mededeling over de overgang van analoge naar digitale omroep) een ingewikkeld proces met sociaal-economische vertakkingen die verder gaan dan een gewone technische migratie (COM(2003) 541, blz. 4).