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Commissariaat voor de Media (the Dutch Media Authority), which oversees the rules formulated in the Dutch Media Act as well as the regulations based on the act, has fined TROS, one of the public broadcasting channels, for having one of their television series sponsored by two major insurance companies. The themes of each episode of the series were directly connected with the themes of the subsequent commercials. The editorial content of the series and the accompanying commercials had been attuned to such a degree that the commercials had more impact than they would have had, if they had been broadcast...

On 19 April, the Committee on Media Concentrations ( Commissie Mediaconcentraties ) submitted a report to the Secretary of State for Education, Culture and Science ( Staatssecretaris van Onderwijs, Cultuur en Wetenschappen ), entitled "The benefits of variety. Concentrations in the media sector and the question of specific legislation" (" Profijt van pluriformiteit. Over concentraties in de mediasector en de vraag naar bijzondere regelgeving" ). In its report, the Committee concludes that, in spite of a steady increase in media concentrations, so far there is no sign that either the variety of...

In connection with the privatisation of the Dutch Broadcasting Corporation ( Nederlands Omroepproduktie Bedrijf NV - NOB ), the Bill amending the Dutch media law (Mediawet ) was published in the Official Gazette and entered into force on 1 May 1999. The term "privatisation" may be slightly misleading, since shares in the company, previously owned by a special foundation, are being taken over by the State. Under the new law, the foundation is to be dissolved and its property automatically transferred to the State in accordance with regulations in this field. The proceeds from the planned sale of...

In a decision of 28 January 1999, the president of the Amsterdam district court held that the refusal of a cable network company to include a clause in a contract with a pay TV channel providing for the possibility of changing the transmission agreement where required by the authorities, was neither fair nor reasonable. A2000 owns and exploits the cable network in the Amsterdam region. Canal+ offers pay-TV programmes. Only subscribers to Canal+ can receive its programmes by use of a decoder. In the early 1990s, A2000 and Canal+ had an agreement allowing Canal+ to transmit its pay-TV programmes...

Are broadcasters required to hand over video material containing pictures of riots to the judicial authorities? This question arose after the riots of Moroccan youths on 14 and 20 December 1998. Television stations had recorded images of the riots and broadcast some of them. When the judicial authorities tried to detect the identity of the rioters and asked for the tapes that were not broadcast, the television stations refused to hand them over. One examining magistrate ordered broadcaster SBS to hand over the tapes, but a few days later another magistrate refused to issue a similar order for the...