In a complex and changing communication environment public service broadcasting is being subject to increasing scrutiny. Using a series of exemplars from various information society programmes, this paper explores the social relations of a new communication environment, audience participation and public service values in the reconfiguration of new media forms in the European Union. These developments require a new analytical framework of a new public service communication environment which enables us to identify ‘reconfiguring’ forms of media, constituted from both traditional and new media. Our mapping of new, traditional and reconfiguring forms of media helps us to identify under what circumstances and institutional conditions the public service ethos is being sustained and rethought.