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On 31 January 1996, the Holland Media Group (HMG) announced that it would close down its commercial television channel RTL5. This decision follows the decision taken by European Commission on 20 September 1995 ( see: IRIS 1995-9:5) that in its current form, the Dutch TV joint venture Holland Media Groep SA (HMG) cannot be approved under Council Regulation (EEC) Nr 4064/89 on the control of concentrations between undertakings. HMG is a joint venture between RTL4 S.A. (RTL), Veronica and Endemol Entertainment. The parent companies of RTL are the Luxembourg broadcasting group CLT and the Dutch publishing...

In the Netherlands, providers of commercial satellite-to-cable programming services have clashed with cable operators in a battle over cable access and carriage fees. Pay TV provider Multichoice (of the Nethold group), the pan-european sports channel, Eurosport, and the Arcade Group (providing music and "golden oldie" television) all claim Dutch cable operators are abusing their dominant positions in unduly restricting access, overcharging or granting unfair advantages to cable-owned programming services. Attempts to gain access under equitable terms through court procedures have, until now, been...

University of Florence) In a joint letter of 4 January 1996 to the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB), the broadcasting associations broadcasting in the Dutch public broadcasting system, the Dutch private commercial broadcasting companies SBS6 and Holland Media Group (owner of the Dutch private commercial broadcaster Veronica and the Luxembourg private commercial broadcasters RTL4 and RTL5) have protested against the conditions the KNVB has set in the negotiations for the production and broadcasting rights of the KNVB's leagues. According to these conditions, the broadcaster that `wins' these...

In a letter dated 3 October 1995, the Dutch Media Authority (Commissariaat voor de Media) has published its analysis of the television programmes of RTL4 and RTL5. In the letter to the Dutch under-secretary for Culture, the Media Authority finds that a number of RTL-programmes still violate the 1989 EC-directive. According to the Commissariaat voor de Media , several programmes contain surreptitious advertising and lack a clear separation between programmes and commercials. The Media Authority - which reached similar conclusions in 1992 and 1993 - and RTL have a profoundly different interpretation...

A recent move by the Church of Scientology to impound computer servers operated by Dutch Internet access provider XS4ALL ('access for all') has sent shockwaves through the Internet community. Several XS4ALL subscribers had posted a legal document (the so-called Fishman affidavit) on their WWW home pages, containing copyrighted Scientology information. According to the Church, this amounted to copyright infringement for which XS4ALL was to be held liable. Scientology's action raises crucial questions as to the liability and legal status of Internet service providers. Should a service provider be...