The regulatory state and radio, television market regulation: The case of Radio and Television Supreme Council

This dissertation examines the establishment of Independent Regulatory Agencies (IRA) in Turkey which rapidly gained importance after the weakening of the welfare state and are enforced with the neoliberal policies globally. And also investigate whether IRAs follow policies that they aimed to or not and also how they regulate the market based on the case of Turkish Radio and Television Supreme Council. Many sectors such as electricity, natural gas and telecommunication, which are publicly offered and natural monopoly, have been privatized as a result of neoliberal policies. One of these privatized sectors was the radio and television market. Therefore, the state needed to regulate the market failures after privatization. These regulations were made by independent regulatory agencies. In the 1990s, public monopoly was abolished in the radio and television sector in Turkey. Thus, entry into the market has become free. As a result of these developments, Radio and Television Supreme Council was established in 1994 to regulate the radio and television market. The study focuses on the functionality of The Radio and Television Supreme Council, which considers itself responsible for the regulation of the radio, television market and the social, cultural and moral structure of the society. In this context, the activities of The Radio and Television Supreme Council for media service providers offering broadcast services in the market and their activities for viewers or listeners have been evaluated separately in terms of regulation, supervision and enforcement. On the other hand, institutions like The Radio and Television Supreme Council in the world are examined and compared with the administrative structure, decision processes, duties and independence levels. Map of the radio and television market in Turkey has been drawn. Thus, the effectiveness of The Radio and Television Supreme Council was discussed by comparing it with the past. As a result of the findings obtained in the study of radio and television market, in Turkey's legal restrictions on the proportion of foreign companies in media it has been found to become flexible. For this reason, the number of foreign companies has been increased. In addition, it was concluded that several major media outlets dominated more than half of the market. On the other hand, it was understood that The Radio and Television Supreme Council increased the sanctions for actors after 2011. Furthermore, it was concluded that The Radio and Television Supreme Council made arrangements for the public interest within the scope of its duties and powers.