Portugal

[PT] New Rules for Portuguese Electronic Program Guides

IRIS 2011-3:1/28

Mariana Lameiras & Helena Sousa

United Nations University Operating Unit on Policy-Driven Electronic Governance (UNU-EGOV) & Communication and Society Research Centre, University of Minho

On 17 January 2011 the rules for the establishment of electronic programme guides (EPGs) were published in the official Portuguese news bulletin, Diário da República. EPGs consist of TV screen software applications which allow users to search for present and future programmes and all other TV services offered by operators (e.g., video on demand, pay-per-view, parental control systems).

This initiative is the result of powers attributed to the State media regulatory entity (Entidade Reguladora para a Comunicação Social - ERC). According to its Statutes (Article 24, no. 3, paragraph r), approved by Law 53/2005, of 8 November, the regulatory entity shall “define the parameters for the access and ordering of electronic programme guides for radio and television”. These rules, now published officially, establish the criteria for the conception, organisation and offering of EPGs for radio and television and follow a previous stage of public consultation, as determined by Article 62 of the ERC’s Statutes. It is worth noting that, according to these rules, television operators must provide EPG suppliers with their programmes’ grids seven days before broadcasting. Moreover, they must state the programmes’ classification (in order to protect vulnerable members of the public), as well as identify any mechanisms for the benefit of people with special needs (Article 6).