In recent years, the global satellite infrastructure has undergone tremendous transformations, which have been publicly completely overlooked. Today’s advanced satellite platforms provide new delivery formats, not just to editorial rooms of major broadcasters, but into the living rooms of households throughout Europe. These direct-to-home services deliver entertainment but also, to an increasing degree, political information.

It is, therefore, important to bring into public discourse satellite related issues such as satellite governance, media policy and satellite regulation, as well as new program cultures, such as diasporic communities and new challenges for national public spheres. These issues have so far not been raised.

The conference ‘European Satellite Cultures’ (ESC) is part of a broader international conference initiative, which will take place May 4-5, 2006 in Copenhagen, Denmark and is jointly organized by Copenhagen Business School and University of Otago, New Zealand. It is a groundbreaking event, which aims to set the agenda of what matters and what needs to be done about satellite regimes across Europe.

The key theme of the conference is the transformation of power that satellite technology has brought about in Europe. The conference addresses transformations in territorial power and the challenges to European state control over information flows that satellites encompass. It moreover addresses transformations of symbolic power, such as the challenges to identity, community and notions of citizenship that come about as satellite cultures enable new forms of connectivity and action across space. Based on this overall theme, the ESC conference is composed of four panel debates exploring the following issues: