Public Service Broadcasting in the Digital Age and the Current Strategies of the TRT

The structural transformation of the media sector in Europe first took up in the 1980s with the introduction of competition. Deregulation was then the underlying process of the era and this transformation also had repercussions for public service broadcasters who found themselves in an institutional identity crisis. A similar impact has been significant on public broadcasters since the 1990s with the advent of digital technologies and the process of convergence obliging them to seek for new grounds for survival. As broadband technologies enabled the internet become a channel for streaming traditional media content, not only production and distribution processes of television broadcasting were transformed but also audience behaviour has been drastically changed. In this new media environment, broadcasting has also transformed thanks to online and multi-media platforms freeing content from traditional distribution channels and enabling on-demand services. This study aims at discussing what all these changes mean for the Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT) by situating the Turkish case in the broader context of the debate on the future of public service broadcasting in Europe.