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Regulation News

Legal Jurisdiction in Defamation Proceedings: ECtHR rules in Arlewin v. Sweden Case
posted on 15 April, 2016   (public)
Legal Jurisdiction in Defamation Proceedings: ECtHR rules in Arlewin v. Sweden Case On 1 March 2016, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) found Sweden in breach for having denied access to a court to a person who wanted to bring defamation proceedings in his country of...
SSR-SRG Swisscom Ringier advertising joint venture: OFCOM and DETEC Decisions
posted on 13 April, 2016   (public)
SSR-SRG, Swisscom, Ringier advertising joint venture: OFCOM and DETEC Decisions The Federal Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications (DETEC) and the Federal Office of Communications (OFCOM) have examined the SSR-SRG's participation in the ...
Television Access Services: Ofcom's final report for 2015
posted on 08 April, 2016   (public)
Television Access Services: Ofcom's final report for 2015 Under the Communications Act 2003, television broadcasters are required to deliver a certain proportion of their programmes with subtitles, signing and audio description to ensure those with hearing and visual...
French administrative court overrules CSA's decision to withdraw Numéro 23 licence
posted on 06 April, 2016   (public)
French administrative court overrules CSA's decision to withdraw Numéro 23 licence On 30 March 2016, the French "Conseil d'Etat" (the highest administrative jurisdiction in France) decided to invalidate the sanction imposed by the French CSA (Conseil...
Archiving Community Media online: CMDS report highlights best practices
posted on 05 April, 2016   (public)
Archiving Community Media online: CMDS Report highlights best practices The Center for Media, Data and Society (CMDS) has issued a research report, authored by Joost van Beek with contributions from Kate Coyer, which explores some of the challenges, obstacles, opportunities...
Public Service News and Digital Media, a new report by the Reuters Institute
posted on 01 April, 2016   (public)
Public Service News and Digital Media, a new report by the Reuters Institute The Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at the University of Oxford has published a new comparative report entitled "Public Service News and Digital Media" on 29 March 2016. The...
Helena Mandić appointed Chair of the Council of Europe’s MSI-MED
posted on 01 April, 2016   (public)
Helena Mandić appointed Chair of the Council of Europe’s MSI-MED The first meeting of the Committee of experts on media pluralism and transparency of media ownership (MSI-MED) took place on 22-23 of March 2016 in Strasbourg. On this occasion, Helena Mandić, EPRA...
Assessing Media Pluralism in Europe: MPM2015 results published
posted on 31 March, 2016   (public)
Assessing Media Pluralism in Europe: MPM2015 results published On 30 March 2016, the European University Institute's Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom (CMPF) in Florence published the outcome of the application of the MPM2015, assessing media pluralism in...
New members for the Council of the AEM in Montenegro
posted on 14 March, 2016   (public)
New members for the Council of the AEM in Montenegro Further to a recent decision of the Parliament, three new members were recently appointed in the Agency for Electronic Media of Montenegro for terms of five years at a time. The Agency for Electronic Media is an...
AVMSD REFIT: Background research published
posted on 10 March, 2016   (public)
AVMSD REFIT: Background research published The European Commission (DG CONNECT) has published, on 4 March 2016, several studies it had commissioned in order to prepare the revision of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMSD). The main topics which are subject to...
Product Placement - Landmark German decision in "Pickup" case
posted on 07 March, 2016   (public)
Product Placement - Landmark German decision in "Pick up" case The Lower Saxony media regulator NLM objected to the product placement of the "Leibniz Pick up" chocolate biscuit made in 2014 in a sequence of the TV series "Ich bin ein Star –...
CoE launches Freedom of expression Website
posted on 24 February, 2016   (public)
CoE launches Freedom of expression Website The Media and Internet governance Division of the Council of Europe has  launched its new Freedom of expression website on 23 February 2016. The new site brings together previously separated websites (Media, Internet...
Incitement to hatred: Croatian AEM temporarily suspends local TV licence
posted on 11 February, 2016   (public)
Incitement to hatred: Croatian AEM temporarily suspends local TV licence On 22 January 2016, the Council of the Electronic Media Agency, the Croatian broadcasting regulator, temporarily suspended the license of the Zagreb-based local television channel Z1 televizija d.o.o....
Council of Europe issues network neutrality guidelines to protect freedom of expression and privacy
posted on 22 January, 2016   (public)
Council of Europe issues network neutrality guidelines to protect freedom of expression and privacy The Council of Europe called on European states to safeguard the principle of network neutrality in the development of national legal frameworks in order to ensure the...
A New Chair for the German DLM
posted on 21 January, 2016   (public)
A New Chair for the German DLM Under their regime of rotating responsibilities in a bi-annual rhythm, Siegfried Schneider, President of the Bavarian regulatory authority (BLM), took over the chair of the Conference of Directors ("Direktorenkonferenz der...
Ofcom consults on Section Three (Crime) of the Broadcasting Code
posted on 20 January, 2016   (public)
Ofcom consults on Section Three (Crime) of the Broadcasting Code On 13 January 2016, Ofcom, the UK Communications Regulator, published a Consultation on Section Three of the Broadcasting Code (“Crime”). This section of the Code deals with: “material...
New Online Media case - ECJ judgement
posted on 13 January, 2016   (public)
New Online Media case - ECJ judgement In June 2014 the Austrian Supreme Court of Administration had requested a preliminary ruling from the European Court of Justice further to an appeal against a decision by the Austrian regulator KommAustria which had qualified the...
10th edition of Ofcom's International Communications Market Report
posted on 16 December, 2015   (public)
10th edition of Ofcom's International Communications Market Report On 10 December 2015, Ofcom, the converged regulator in the UK, published its tenth International Communications Market Report which provides comparative international data on the communications sector on...
Challenging prospects for regional television
posted on 09 December, 2015   (public)
Challenging Prospects for regional television In view of a future reorganization of public service media, the Swiss audiovisual regulator OFCOM has commissioned the experts Marc Janssen and Jean-François Furnémont from the Wagner-Hatfield consultancy bureau to...
Ofcom concludes its work on the measurement framework for media plurality
posted on 02 December, 2015   (public)
Ofcom concludes its work on the measurement framework for media plurality On 5 November 2015, Ofcom published its advice to the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport on the Measurement framework for media plurality it had been asked to develop in 2011 in order to...
Public Service Media Remit in 40 European Countries: free IRIS Bonus report
posted on 17 November, 2015   (public)
Public Service Media Remit in 40 European Countries: free IRIS Bonus report A free working tool, developed in collaboration with the EBU and intended inter alia to accompany the reading of the IRIS Special on “Public service activities online: remit and...
Deployment of mobile services on 700 MHz band: end of the auctions in France
posted on 16 November, 2015   (public)
Deployment of mobile services on the 700 MHz band: end of the auctions in France On 16 November 2015, ARCEP (the French regulator of the electronic and postal communications) has started the auctions for the 700 MHz band. The four major French operators have submitted...
"Let's choose what we watch" - National campaign launched by Agency for Electronic Media and UNICEF Office in Croatia
by Anja Jelavić (AEM - HR) posted on 12 November, 2015   (public)
"Let's choose what we watch" - National campaign launched by Agency for Electronic Media and UNICEF Office in Croatia "Let's choose what we watch" is a national campaign by the Agency for Electronic Media (AEM) and UNICEF, which aims to raise...
Ofcom’s proposals on signing arrangements for non-domestic TV channels
posted on 05 November, 2015   (public)
Ofcom’s proposals on signing arrangements for non-domestic TV channels On 14 October 2015, Ofcom has published proposals on signing arrangements for non-domestic TV channels – i.e. channels licensed by Ofcom for transmission to other Member States of the EEA. The...
AVMSDatabase: a new tool for comparative legal research
posted on 03 November, 2015   (public)
AVMSDatabase: a new tool for comparative legal research The European Audiovisual Observatory has just launched its AVMSDatabase and it is accessible free of charge here. This new tool shows exactly how each EU country has transposed the various rules contained within the...
French CSA withdraws Numéro 23 licence
posted on 30 October, 2015   (public)
French CSA withdraws Numéro 23 licence The French CSA (Conseil supérieur de l’audiovisuel) has, during its plenary on 14 October 2015, decided to proceed with a withdrawal of the licence granted on 3 July 2012 to the company Diversité TV in order...
Focus on Denmark: 2nd Report on Media Development
posted on 08 October, 2015   (public)
Focus on Denmark:  2nd Report on Media Development In June 2015, the Danish Agency for Culture has published the first part of its second edition of its "Media Development in Denmark Report" which looks at media consumption trends and at the media industry in...
Community Radio - Official Status in French Speaking Belgium
posted on 06 October, 2015   (public)
Community Radio - Official Status in French Speaking Belgium On the occasion of the UNESCO seminar of 14-15 September in Paris on "Community Media Sustainability",the Conseil supérieur de l’audiovisuel, the media regulator of the French speaking...
Due impartiality and news: Ofcom reprimands RT
posted on 29 September, 2015   (public)
Due impartiality and news: Ofcom reprimands RT On 21 September 2015, UK regulator Ofcom has ruled that three episodes of RT's programming were in breach of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code. The rulings published in the watchdog’s latest bulletin concern two...
Digital Single Market Strategy: consultations on geo-blocking and the role of platforms
posted on 25 September, 2015   (public)
Digital Single Market Strategy: consultations on geo-blocking and the role of platforms On 24 September 2015, the European Commission has launched two further consultations as part of the Digital Single Market Strategy issued on 6 May 2015: one on geo-blocking and one...

Archived Regulation News

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...
First report on the application of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive
posted on 07 May, 2012   (public)
The European Commission today presented a report on the application of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMSD). This is the first application report on the AVMSD and covers the period 2009-2010. The first part of the report looks retrospectively at the...
Study on the implementation of the AVMS Directive - Promotion of European works
posted on 07 May, 2012   (public)
The European Commission today published the Study on the implementation of the provisions of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive concerning the promotion of European works in audiovisual media services. The study provides an analysis of national legal measures...
New audiovisual media services under the jurisdiction of Luxembourg
posted on 07 May, 2012   (public)
The Conseil national des programmes (CNP), the regulatory authority in Luxembourg, has been informed by the Department of Media and Communications of the Government that the following audiovisual media services now fall under the jurisdiction of the Grand Duchy: Broadcast...
Freedom of press : OIF calls for vigilance
posted on 02 May, 2012   (public)
On the occasion of World Press Freedom Day, celebrated on May 3, Mr. Abdou Diouf, Secretary General of the International Organisation of La Francophonie (OIF), states that the legal guarantees and effectiveness of freedom of press have improved in a number of French-speaking...
Irish BAI publishes Ownership and Control Policy (2012)
posted on 27 April, 2012   (public)
The Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) published its new Policy on the ownership and control of broadcasting services on April 26. The policy reflects the contents of the BAI Strategy Statement 2011-2013 and the legislative provisions of the Broadcasting Act 2009 which...
French CSA consults on short extracts of sport events
posted on 18 April, 2012   (public)
On 17 April 2012, the Conseil supérieur de l’audiovisuel (CSA), the French regulatory authority, has launched a public consultation on the right to make available to the public, by way of electronic communication, short extracts of sport events’...
COE Recommendations to protect human rights on search engines and social networks
posted on 16 April, 2012   (public)
The Council of Europe adopted two Recommendations on the protection of human rights, notably freedom of expression, access to information and the right to private life, with regard to search engines and social networking services on 4 April 2012. The Committee of Ministers...
Irish BAI consults on draft general and children's commercial communications codes
posted on 04 April, 2012   (public)
The Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) has launched a public consultation on a new Draft Children’s Commercial Communications Code and a new Draft General Commercial Communications Code on 30th March 2012. Under existing rules, commercial communications which are...
AVMS scope: Recommendation of Belgian CSA
posted on 30 March, 2012   (public)
In order to ensure full legal certainty for market players - notably on the internet - with regard to legal provisions which may be applicable to them and with the view of providing a level playing field, the CSA of the French Community of Belgium adopted a ...
Ofcom - Adults: media use and attitudes report published
posted on 29 March, 2012   (public)
Ofcom, the UK’s independent communications regulator, has today published its latest report on adults’ media use and attitudes. The report covers the use and attitudes of UK adults across the key platforms of the internet, television, radio, games and mobile...
French CSA selects six new HD channels for DTT network
posted on 28 March, 2012   (public)
Further to the call for tenders of 18 October 2011 with the view of launching of six  HD channels on the DTT network,  the  Conseil supérieur de l’audiovisuel (CSA), the French regulatory authority, has selected, on 27 March 2012,  the...
Protection of Minors & Media Convergence: Report of French CSA
posted on 27 March, 2012   (public)
The French CSA (Conseil supérieur de l'audiovisuel) has just published a report  on the protection of minors in the era of converging audiovisual media and the internet. The report was prepared at the request of Mrs Claude Greff, Secretary of State for...
Ofcom invites contributions to its review of its Designation of ATVOD
posted on 26 March, 2012   (public)
Ofcom is inviting contributions to its review of its Designation of ATVOD (the Authority for Television on Demand) as co-regulator of editorial content included in video-on-demand (VOD) services. The Designation, which came into force in March 2010, is subject to formal...
Political advertising - ECtHR hearing in the case of ADI v. United Kingdom
posted on 08 March, 2012   (public)
The European Court of Human Rights ECtHR held a Grand Chamber hearing on 7 March in the case of Animal Defenders International v. the United Kingdom. The case concerns the complaint by a non-governmental organisation that it has been denied the possibility to advertise on TV...
Digital Radio: Belgian CSA publishes outcome of public consultation
posted on 24 February, 2012   (public)
On 14 February 2012, the CSA of the French Community of Belgium, published a summary of the answers they  received on the occasion of their public consultation on terrestrial digital radio in order to reflect on the variety of the points of view but also on the concensus...
CICA Declaration on the need for independent regulators in the field of broadcasting
posted on 20 February, 2012   (public)
The Iberian Conference of the Audiovisual Councils (CICA), which convened in Barcelona for its annual meeting on 6 February 2012, made a public statement on the need for independent regulatory authorities in the field of broadcasting. The statement recalled that broadcasting...
Adoption of the first Radio Spectrum Policy Programme (RSPP)
posted on 17 February, 2012   (public)
On 15 February 2012, the European Parliament agreed upon the common position of the Council allowing for the formal adoption of the first Radio Spectrum Policy Programme (RSPP). The RSPP establishes a five-year policy programme with the aim to promote efficient radio...
CoE Declaration and Recommendation on the Governance of Public Service Media
posted on 16 February, 2012   (public)
In a Declaration and a Recommendation adopted by its Committee of Ministers on 16.02.2012, the Council of Europe urged its member states to renovate the governance framework of public service media in order to adapt to the new communication environment. The Appendix to the...
World Radio Day
posted on 13 February, 2012   (public)
13 February is a date proclaimed by UNESCO to celebrate radio broadcast, improve international cooperation among radio broadcasters and encourage decision-makers to create and provide access to information through radio, including community radios. It’s an occasion to...
Danish Radio and Television Board opens new proceedings in Roj TV case
posted on 09 February, 2012   (public)
On 10 January 2012, the Copenhagen Municipal Court  delivered a verdict in the case vs. ROJ TV and Mesopotamia Broadcast A/S, METV. The court ruled that ROJ TV and Mesopotamia Broadcast are in violation of the Penal Code's provisions about terrorism. More...
Irish BAI consults on Fairness, Objectivity and Impartiality in News and Current Affairs
posted on 02 February, 2012   (public)
On 1st February 2012, the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) has launched a public consultation on a Draft Code of Fairness, Objectivity and Impartiality in News and Current Affairs. The draft code sets out the underpinning principles and a range of more specific rules...