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Regulation News

Public Service Broadcasting in the Internet Age - Ofcom's 3rd PSB Review
posted on 17 July, 2015   (public)
Public Service Broadcasting in the Internet Age - Ofcom's 3rd PSB Review On 2 July 2015, British Regulator Ofcom published the conclusions of its third review of public service broadcasting. The review examines how the BBC - but also ITV, STV, UTV, Channel 4, Channel 5...
Independence of NRAs: Chair of Latvian Broadcasting regulator dismissed
posted on 09 July, 2015   (public)
Independence of NRAs: Chair of Latvian Broadcasting regulator dismissed The Saeima, the Parliament of Latvia, in an extraordinary session held on 8 July 2015 voted to dismiss Mr Ainārs Dimants, Chairperson of the National Electronic Mass Media Council (NEPLP), the...
Local TV not keeping pace with nationwide broadcasting in Germany
posted on 24 June, 2015   (public)
Local TV not keeping pace with nationwide broadcasting in Germany   Nationwide TV broadcasting remains the key medium in Germany and consolidates its supremacy in the advertising market even further. This is one of the main findings of the new edition of the Yearbook...
Changing patterns in the consumption of news in Ireland
posted on 23 June, 2015   (public)
Changing patterns in the consumption of news in Ireland New research commissioned by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI), which was published on 23 June, highlighted significant changes in the way in which Irish people access news. This new report is based on data...
Swiss voters approve change in licence fee model
posted on 17 June, 2015   (public)
Swiss voters approve change in licence fee model On 14 June, Swiss citizens voted by referendum on the partial review of the Federal Radio and TV Act (RVTA), which was approved by a very narrow margin (Yes: 50.1%, No: 49.9 %). The main objective of the RVTA review is to ...
Sweden: Press Subsidies Council becomes part of the Broadcasting Authority
posted on 15 June, 2015   (public)
Sweden: Press Subsidies Council becomes part of the Broadcasting Authority As of 1 July, the Press Subsidies Council (Presstödsnämnden) will cease to exist as a separate agency and its functions transferred to the Swedish Broadcasting Authority (Myndigheten...
A modified structure for the French CSA
posted on 08 June, 2015   (public)
A modified structure for the French CSA Echoing the far-reaching changes of the media environment and as a consequence of its new duties on public service broadcasting and economic regulation introduced by the Law of 15 November 2013, the French regulator CSA announced a...
Ofcom looks back at 10 years Adults’ media use
posted on 26 May, 2015   (public)
Ofcom looks back at 10 years Adults’ media use Ofcom published, in May 2015, its Adults’ media use and attitudes Report 2015. The Report provides data on adults' (aged 16 and over) media use and attitudes across TV, radio, games, mobile and the internet, with...
EPRA Berne: Presentation of the Swiss Media Landscape
posted on 21 May, 2015   (public)
EPRA Berne: Presentation of the Swiss Media Landscape On the occasion of the 41st EPRA meeting in Berne held on 13-15 May 2015, Mr. Roger Blum, Chairperson of the Independent Complaints Authority (ICA) and Mr. Philipp Metzger, Director General of the Federal Office for...
Ofcom revises signing arrangements for low audience channels
posted on 19 May, 2015   (public)
Ofcom revises signing arrangements for low audience channels Ofcom has revised the arrangements for signing on domestic TV channels in the UK with an audience share between 0.05% and 1%. Ofcom’s decisions take account of responses to the consultation published in July...
2015 Guide of Digital Channels in France
posted on 28 April, 2015   (public)
2015 Guide of Digital Channels in France The thirteenth edition of the Guide on Digital Channels was published in April 2015 by the French regulator CSA, the DGMIC (Directorate General of Media and Cultural Industries of the Ministry of Culture and Communication), CNC...
Towards a sustainable Swiss media ecosystem - Federal Council's report highlights potential support measures
posted on 07 April, 2015   (public)
Towards a sustainable Swiss media ecosystem - Federal Council's report highlights potential support measures In a report entitled "Ensuring the political and democratic functions of the media", published in December 2014, the Federal Council (the Swiss...
Media Plurality - Ofcom consults on measurement framework
posted on 16 March, 2015   (public)
Media Plurality - Ofcom consults on measurement framework On 11 March 2015, Ofcom published a consultation on a proposed measurement framework for media plurality, as the second part of a two-step process which will lead to set out proposals for indicators to be included in...
Digital radio: switchover in Norway soon to be concluded
posted on 12 March, 2015   (public)
Digital Radio: switchover in Norway soon to be concluded Two reports on the radio digital switchover have recently been published and have been presented to the Norwegian Ministry of Culture. The report from the Norwegian Media Authority (NMA) of 27 February 2015 contains...
Serbian REM issues Recommendation on the use of subtitles and sign language
posted on 26 February, 2015   (public)
Serbian REM issues Recommendation on the use of subtitles and sign language The Council of the Regulatory Authority of Electronic Media (REM) in Serbia, on the occasion of its meeting held on 9 February 2015, issued a Recommendation on how to use subtitles and sign language...
Digital radio & small stations: Ofcom announces trials of small scale DAB
posted on 24 February, 2015   (public)
Digital radio & small stations: Ofcom announces trials of small scale DAB On 24 February 2015, Ofcom has confirmed plans for trials of a new technology that could provide small radio stations across the UK with an affordable way to broadcast on DAB digital radio....
Independent application of INDIREG ranking tool in Albania
posted on 17 February, 2015   (public)
Independent application of INDIREG ranking tool in Albania Responding to a request by the Speaker of the Assembly of Albania, the Council of Europe Secretary General had requested assistance for an assessment of the independence and efficient functioning of the Albanian...
French CSA publishes a new study on catch-up TV
posted on 16 February, 2015   (public)
French CSA publishes a new study on catch-up TV On 13 February 2015 the French Conseil supérieur de l'audiovisuel (CSA) published a new study on catch-up TV in France entitled: "La télévision de rattrapage : une pratique installée, une...
Irish BAI launches Sound & Vision III Scheme
posted on 05 February, 2015   (public)
Irish BAI launches Sound & Vision III Scheme The Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) has announced on 3 February 2015 a new Broadcasting Funding Scheme, Sound & Vision III. The scheme will see up to €24 million in funding being made available to television...
Two new members for the French CSA
posted on 29 January, 2015   (public)
Two new members for the French CSA On 26 January, the President of the French Republic appointed two new members of the French Conseil supérieur de l'audiovisuel (CSA): Nathalie Sonnac, who was nominated by the head of the National Assembly. She is inter alia...
A new Code of Programme Standards for the BAI
posted on 29 January, 2015   (public)
A new Code of Programme Standards for the BAI The Broadcasting Act 2009 requires the Irish regulator, the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI), to prepare codes and rules, and to review the effect of such codes and rules in accordance within specified timeframes....
Protection of Minors: Norway adopts platform independent legislation
posted on 06 January, 2015   (public)
Protection of Minors: Norway adopts platform independent legislation During a second reading which took place on 15 December 2014, the Norwegian Parliament adopted a new law on the protection of minors against harmful content in audiovisual programmes. The Ministry of...
Digital Radio Switchover envisaged for 2024 in Switzerland
posted on 16 December, 2014   (public)
Digital Radio Switchover envisaged for 2024 in Switzerland By 2024 all radio programme services are to be broadcast only digitally in Switzerland, mainly on DAB+ platforms. This is the goal of the radio industry, which will cease analogue VHF (FM) broadcasting of its...
Protecting Audiences in an online world, a new Ofcom commissioned research
posted on 09 December, 2014   (public)
Protecting Audiences in an online world, a new Ofcom commissioned research On 4 December 2014, Ofcom published the outcome of recent research conducted by Kardar Media, which deals with audience views of protections for audiovisual content delivered across different...
Measuring Plurality: Ofcom's call for inputs
posted on 18 November, 2014   (public)
Measuring Plurality: Ofcom's call for inputs Ofcom has recently been requested by the Secretary of State to develop a measurement framework for media plurality. On 30 October 2014, Ofcom invited stakeholders to provide their input on how best to measure media plurality....
Second ERGA meeting: focus on regulatory independence
posted on 27 October, 2014   (public)
Second ERGA meeting: focus on regulatory independence The European Regulators Group for Audiovisual Media Services (ERGA) met in Brussels for the second time under the Chairmanship of Mr. Olivier Schrameck, President of the French CSA, on 21 October 2014. ERGA adopted a ...
CoE Committee of Ministers will not resume work on the revision of the ECTT
posted on 21 October, 2014   (public)
CoE Committee of Ministers will not resume work on the revision of the European Convention on Transfrontier Television On 23 September 2014, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe informed that “(it) has not allocated any resources to work on the European...
EPRA meeting in Tbilisi: Presentation of the Georgian Media Regulatory Landscape
posted on 15 October, 2014   (public)
EPRA meeting in Tbilisi: Presentation of the Georgian Regulatory Landscape On the occasion of the 40th EPRA meeting in Tbilisi on 8-10 October 2014, Mr. Ivane Makharadze, Head of the Broadcasting Regulation Department at the Georgian National Communication Commission...
Ofcom: Children and Parents Media Use and Attitudes Report 2014
posted on 09 October, 2014   (public)
Ofcom: Children and Parents Media Use and Attitudes Report 2014 The Ofcom published on 9 October 2014 its annual Children and Parents Media Use and Attitudes Report. The Report examines children’s use of different media and communications, and the role parents play in...
Ofcom: Digital Radio Report 2014
posted on 26 September, 2014   (public)
Ofcom: Digital Radio Report 2014 On 25 September 2014 Ofcom published its annual Digital Radio Report for 2014 as part of the Digital Radio Action Plan announced by the Government in July 2010. The report covers availability, take-up, listening patterns and attitudes towards...

Archived Regulation News

Loudness on TV: Catalan Regulator takes steps
posted on 17 October, 2012   (public)
In line with the recent trend towards loudness normalization in several European countries, the Catalan Audiovisual Council (CAC) has recently been tackling the issue of sudden changes in volume on television during advertising breaks further to complaints from the public. A...
Creation of a new regulatory authority in Luxembourg: Draft Law
posted on 16 October, 2012   (public)
On 15 October 2012, Luxembourg's Minister for Communication and Media, Mr. François Biltgen, announced a - long awaited - reform of media law and the creation of the Independent Audiovisual Authority of Luxembourg (l’Autorité luxembourgeoise...
Irish BAI signals new rules for advertising of food and drink in children’s programmes
posted on 16 October, 2012   (public)
The Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) announced on October 12 the outcomes of a public consultation launched in March 2012 on a Draft Children’s Commercial Communications Code and a Draft General Commercial Communications Code. The Draft Codes concern regulatory...
Towards a convergent NRA in France? ARCEP's point of view
posted on 16 October, 2012   (public)
In the context of a consultation launched by the Prime Minister during summer, ARCEP, the Regulatory Authority for Electronic Communications and Post, published its position on the merger between the CSA and ARCEP, the two French regulatory authorities in charge of...
Update on SEE Digi.TV activities
posted on 11 October, 2012   (public)
The Second SEE Digi.TV International Conference which is organized by the lead partner of the project, the Post and Electronic Communications Agency of the Republic of Slovenia (APEK), will be held in Ljubljana on 18-19 October 2012. During this event (upon invitation...
Ofcom’s supplementary advice on media plurality
posted on 05 October, 2012   (public)
On 5 October 2012, Ofcom published supplementary advice to the Secretary of State on media plurality. This follows the report on the feasibility of measuring media plurality across platforms, presented to the Secretary of State for Culture in June 2012. Ofcom recommended to...
Access services: Ofcom's statement on new requirements for non-domestic channels
posted on 01 October, 2012   (public)
On 1 October 2012, Ofcom, the communications regulator in the UK, published a statement on new requirements for TV channels licensed by Ofcom and made available in other Member States of the European Union to provide access services such as subtitling, signing and audio...
Short extracts: Draft Decision by French CSA
posted on 01 October, 2012   (public)
The Conseil supérieur de l’audiovisuel (CSA), the French regulatory authority, notified the European Commission of its draft Decision setting up the conditions for the transmission of short extracts of sport events and other events of high interest to the...
European Commission report on the promotion of European works
posted on 26 September, 2012   (public)
The European Commission published its report on the promotion of European works in television and on-demand audiovisual media services on 26 September 2012. The report examines how the Members States complied with the requirements of Articles 13, 16 and 17 of the Audiovisual...
4th CERF meeting convenes in Bratislava
posted on 25 September, 2012   (public)
From 20 to 21 September 2012, the Central European Regulatory Forum (CERF) held its 4th meeting in Bratislava, hosted by the Council for Broadcasting and Retransmission of the Slovak Republic. More than 30 representatives from regulatory authorities in the Czech Republic,...
MEDIADEM publishes comparative findings on media policy
posted on 20 September, 2012   (public)
MEDIADEM, an EU funded research project on media policy-making processes in EU member states and candidate countries, recently published its comparative findings. The purpose of the research project is to identify which policy processes, tools and instruments can best support...
Report of the EU Media Futures Forum
posted on 20 September, 2012   (public)
On 20 September 2012, the EU Media Futures Forum, commissioned by Neelie Kroes, Vice-President of the European Commission responsible for the Digital Agenda, released its final report on trends, opportunities and challenges in the media sector. This report complements the...
Community Media: Czech Regulator opens a public debate
posted on 19 September, 2012   (public)
The Council for Radio and Television Broadcasting, the Czech regulatory authority, recently opened a public debate on Community Media by commissioning a report mapping out the possibilities for introducing "Third Sector" (non-profit) media in the Czech Republic. ...
Ofcom awards first local TV licences
posted on 13 September, 2012   (public)
On 12 September 2012, Ofcom (UK) awarded the first licences to run local TV services on DTT in Brighton and Grimsby. This was done following new legislation which enabled Ofcom to issue local TV licences. Local TV has been previously licensed on a limited basis by the...
Loudness on TV: French CSA report
posted on 06 September, 2012   (public)
On 5 September 2012, the French regulator CSA published its first report to Parliament on loudness levels on television. This report derives from Article 177 of Law No. 2010-788 of 12 July 2010, which requires that channels ensure an equal loudness level during...
New President and new Board for the Catalan Authority
posted on 26 July, 2012   (public)
The Catalan Authority, Consell de l'Audiovisual de Catalunya (CAC), has a new President and a partly renewed Board. Roger Loppacher i Crehuet began his term of office as President on July 9, 2012. He replaces Mr Ramon Font, who resigned from his position to facilitate...
New President and new Board for the Italian AGCOM
posted on 26 July, 2012   (public)
The constitutive meeting of the new Board of the AGCOM, the Italian regulator in charge of broadcasting and telecommunications, took place on 26 July 2012 at the authority's headquarters in Naples. The new President is Angelo Marcello Cardani who replaces Corrado...
Ofcom's Communications Market Report 2012
posted on 26 July, 2012   (public)
On 18 July 2012, Ofcom published its 9th Communications Market Report on the UK’s TV, radio, broadband, telecoms and mobile industries. This year’s report shows that viewers watched television an average of four hours per day in 2011 – up from 3.7 hours in...
Looking beyond the AVMS Directive: the challenge of Connected TV, Limassol, 25-26 October
posted on 25 July, 2012   (public)
The European Commission and the Cyprus Radiotelevision Authority are organizing a conference entitled Looking beyond the AVMS Directive: the challenge of Connected TV in Limassol, Cyprus, on 25-26 October 2012.  The aim of the meeting is to stimulate thought and action...
Prominence of European works on VOD: Assessment by Belgian CSA
posted on 09 July, 2012   (public)
On 3 July 2012, the CSA of the French speaking Community of Belgium handed over to Parliament a global assessment report of its policy measures on the promotion of European works and works of the French Community of Belgium on VOD services. The CSA Recommendation of 24 June...
PSB funding changes in Finland
posted on 27 June, 2012   (public)
On 20 June 2012, the Finnish Parliament approved legislation on the new public service broadcasting tax. According to the new Acts, as of 1 January 2013, the activities of the Finnish public service broadcaster Yleisradio (YLE) will be funded from the state budget. The...
Access and disability: CSA study on DTT devices with voice features
posted on 24 June, 2012   (public)
The French CSA published on June 22 the results of the Mediatvcom study on the DTT devices with voice features. The study was commissioned by the CSA after the associations for the blind and visually impaired had stated that no DTT device designed for blind people existed in...
Commission asks ECJ to fine Poland for not fully implementing AVMS Directive
posted on 21 June, 2012   (public)
European Commission has decided to refer Poland to the European Court of Justice for failing to fully implement the Audiovisual Media Services Directive. Poland has partially implemented the Directive but not the provisions concerning on-demand services. The Commission...
Compensation for the use of short extracts - ECJ
posted on 19 June, 2012   (public)
The Advocate General of the European Court of Justice, Mr. Yves Bot, issued on June 12 a legal opinion in the case Sky Österreich GmbH v Österreichischer Rundfunk (ORF). The case concerns compensation payable by Austrian public broadcaster ORF to the holder of...
Measuring Plurality across platforms: Ofcom report
posted on 19 June, 2012   (public)
In October 2011, the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport asked Ofcom to provide advice on the feasibility of measuring media plurality across platforms. On 19 June 2012, Ofcom published a report  giving an answer to the five questions raised by...
Media Pluralism: ECHR judgment in Centro Europa 7 and Di Stefano case
posted on 19 June, 2012   (public)
The European Court of Human Rights delivered the judgment in the case of Centro Europa 7 S.R.L. v. Italy and Di Stefano v. Italy on June 7. The case concerned an Italian TV company’s inability to broadcast for nearly ten years, despite having a broadcasting licence, due...
Belgian CSA workshop: "New Screens, new Regulation" - Brussels, 5-6 July
posted on 13 June, 2012   (public)
On 5 and 6 July 2012, the CSA of the French Community of Belgium and the MEDIADEM project jointly organise a workshop entitled "New screens, new regulation". This conference on the future of television, which will revolve around issues such as Connected TV, social...
REFRAM meets in Portorož at the eve of EPRA meeting
posted on 30 May, 2012   (public)
On the eve of the 35th EPRA meeting and with the support of the International Organization of la Francophonie, the seven broadcasting regulators that are also members of REFRAM, the network of French speaking media regulatory authorities, met on 29 May in Portorož (Slovenia)...
Pan-European Forum on Media Pluralism and New Media: Brussels, 27 June
posted on 22 May, 2012   (public)
The Honourable Society of Gray’s Inn (UK), University of Leuven (Belgium) and the Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom (Italy) are organising the Pan-European Forum on Media Pluralism and New Media. The event will take place on June 27 at the premises of the...
Consultation on revision of Swiss Radio and Television Act
posted on 16 May, 2012   (public)
The Federal Council of Switzerland has opened a consultation procedure concerning the revision of the Radio and Television Act. The partial revision of the Act focuses on the replacement of the current reception fee by a universal radio and television fee. Today, when smart...