Television policy in the EU reflects the underlying purpose of promoting European integration and abolishing National barriers to the free movement of goods and services within the common market. By decision of the European Court of Justice in Sacchi (1974, a television signal is considered a provision of services under Articles 59 and 60 of the Treaty of Rome, and national barriers to cross-frontier broadcasting or the establishment of broadcasters from one member state in another are intended to be abolished in most circumstances.

The EU’s audiovisual policy is based on regulations and financial instruments. In a matter of about 10 years, this policy has gained a firm footing both internally, with the so-called Television Without Frontiers (TWF) Directive, the MEDIA Plus program, and the intervention of the European Investment Bank and externally with its position in World Trade Organization negotiations. The EU’s single most important initiative in audiovisual policy, is the promotion of a single EU audiovisual market, the TWF Directive of October 3, 1989. It secures access for viewers and listeners in all member states to broadcasting signals emanating from any other member state and regularizes EU broadcast advertising standards.

The European Parliament’s Hahn Report on Radio and Television Broadcasting in the EC (1982) laid the groundwork for the formal TWF Directive. The Hahn Report advocated establishment of a unified European television channel and saw satellite television technology leading to a reorganization of the media in Europe and breaking down of the boundaries of national television networks.

The original TWF Directive was amended on June 30, 1997, to “increase the legal certainty and update the wording of the Directive.” As of 2003, the directive is undergoing another revision in order to assess the impact of technological and market developments. The main issue in the debate on the TWF Directive revolve around the following:

• Programming quotas: broadcasters should, where practicable, reserve a majority of airtime for European programmers. Additionally, 10 percent of a broadcaster's schedule should be programs made by independent producers.

• Advertising: there are detailed rules on the content of television advertising (e.g., concerning children), the duration (15 percent of daily broadcasting time, 20 percent per hour), the methods of program interruptions, the form of natural breaks, and ethical considerations (particularly for children). Advertising that promotes discrimination on grounds of race, sex, or nationality; that is offensive to religious beliefs; or that encourages behavior prejudicial to health, safety, or the protection of the environment is prohibited or restricted.

In addition, the TWF Directive lays down minimum standards that, if met by any television program, allow it to freely circulate within the EU without restriction, provided that it complies with the legislation of the country of origin. The directive contains chapters devoted to promotion of television program production and a distribution, protection of minors, television sponsorship, access of the public to major (sports) events, and right of reply. A  right of reply is according to any person or organization who's legitimate interests have been damaged by an incorrect assertion of fact in a television program. Therefore, the European Consumers’ Organization (BEUC) wants clear provisions concerning an effective processing system for complaints while ensuring that the rights of consumers in their own country are not unduly infringed on by television broadcasts from other countries. 

The TWF Directive also lays down two other policies that have an effect similar to the establishment of quotas on broadcasting in the EU. First, the directive requires member states to ensure "where practicable" and by “appropriate means” that broadcasters reserve for “European works” a majority of their transmission time, exclusive of news, sports events, game shows, advertising, and teletext services. This is intended to protect 50 percent  or more of transmission time so defined from foreign (non-EU) competition. The second quota, designed to stimulate the production of European drama work, requires broadcasters to reserve 10 percent or more of their transmission time (as above) or, alternatively, 10 percent of their programming budget for European works created by producers who are “independent of broadcasters” (TWF Directive, art.5.). The time between a film being released and being broadcast on television shall be 2 years and one year for films co-produced with radio.

During the late 1980s and early 1990s, concern developed in Europe that a single market in television was an economic threat to national broadcasting markets and national media as well as a threat to cultural and linguistic diversity in Europe. The threat is seen to derive from English-language services and Productions in that only the United States is considered to have film and television Industries organized on a scale large enough to take advantage of the single market. However, according to the 2001 Eurofiction poll, national works account for 75 percent of TV fiction broadcast during prime time in France, 56 percent in Germany, 51 percent in Spain, and 43 percent in Italy,  even though American productions still represent 50 percent for the day’s transmission time as a whole on most European channels.

Therefore, concern at the European level for the protection and aid of European programming has led to audiovisual industry subsidy programs, such as the European Commission’s MEDIA Action Plan for Advanced Television and MEDIA Plus programs and the Council of Europe’s Eurimages fund. These are collectively intended to support and stimulate independent production and distribution networks for European works that are currently considered non-competitive with U.S. programming imports.

The EU’s television policy thus simultaneously pursues the economic objective of creating a single market in broadcasting along with the fostering of cultural pluralism and protection of existing national and subnational broadcasting markets and institutions. The TWF approach, rooted in the fundamental purpose of the EU, has so far had more impact than other protectionist policies. However, there are sharp differences between member states that could ultimately lead to less economic integration and more cultural and economic protectionism.

In addition, the European Commission is advocating a more integrated approach to audiovisual and digital technologies. To this end, it has launched a number of programs under the overall heading of the European Information Society.