Sweden

[SE] Virtual Advertising Incompatible with Swedish Law

IRIS 2002-5:1/14

Greger Lindberg

Swedish Broadcasting Commission

Swedish broadcaster Canal Plus broadcasts (English) Premier League football matches by satellite and cable. Virtual advertisements were displayed on each side of the goals during play and in the centre circle during intermissions. The messages were inserted, not by the broadcaster, but by the production company. In a recent decision, the Swedish Broadcasting Commission found that Canal Plus was the responsible broadcaster. It also found that the messages constituted television advertising and were thus in breach of the rules concerning the separation and insertion of advertising messages.

This decision follows from a previous decision by the Commission, confirmed by the Court of Appeal, whereby it was established that advertisements adapted for television broadcasting that are inserted in the programme constitute television advertising. It is of no consequence whether the advertisement has been inserted by the final broadcaster, another broadcaster or a production company.

There is no appeal against the Broadcasting Commission's decision, which carried no penalty.


References

  • Beslut SB 121/02 2002-03-06 Diarienr: 810/01-51 Saken "Fotboll: Premier League", Canal+, 2001-12-17, kl. 20.55-23.00, och 2002-01-23, kl. 16.00-17.50; fråga om s.k. virtuell reklam i sportsändningar
  • http://www.grn.se/PDF-filer/Namndbes/2002/sb121-02.pdf
  • Decision SB 121/02 of the Swedish Broadcasting Commission, issued on 6 March 2002

This article has been published in IRIS Legal Observations of the European Audiovisual Observatory.