Czechia

[CZ] Amendment of the Broadcasting Act

IRIS 2013-1:1/12

Jan Fučík

Česká televize

The Parliament of the Czech Republic approved an amendment of the Broadcasting Act concerning the increased volume of commercials compared to the rest of television programming. For a long time, the Council for Radio and Television Broadcasting (the Council) has received a wide range of complaints from viewers dealing with increased commercial sound volumes during the broadcasting of commercials.

According to the amended Broadcasting Act, it is the responsibility of the Council to authoritatively intervene in any case of significant volume increases during television advertising. Previously, the Council could not take any such action against broadcasters, because the broadcasters were not obliged to maintain the same volume level for all parts of their programming.

The new legislation is based on a comparison of sound intensities of the transmission before and after advertising. Due to the practical application of the provisions, particularly the technical aspects of measuring sound intensity, the legislation authorises the Council to determine an implementing regulation for further details.

A television broadcaster now has to ensure that the sound volume of advertising, teleshopping and sponsorship does not increase when compared with programmes before and after parts of the programme containing commercial communications. This obligation applies to any audio-visual means of separating advertising and teleshopping from other parts.