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On 2 March 2011, the Parliamentary Commission on Ethics, Society and Culture (13ª Commissão de Ética, Sociedade e Cultura) approved the Social Democrats' request to conduct several hearings in order to evaluate the experience of media regulation in Portugal. Following the ending of the current Regulatory Council’s mandate of the Entidade Reguladora para a Comunicação Social (media regulatory authority - ERC), the request seeks to organize hearings of several representatives of the media sector regarding the five years’ mandate. This situation further delays the appointment of the members of the...

In April 2011, the Autoridade Nacional de Comunicações (regulator, supervisor and representative of the communications sector in Portugal - ANACOM) launched two consultations in the area of electronic communications. ANACOM launched a consultation on the allocation of licenses for wireless frequencies in the 450, 800, 900 and 1800MHz bands, as well as 2.1 and 2.6GHz. The regulation concerned focuses on the granting of rights of frequency use over a massive section of the spectrum. This is intended for the provision of publicly available terrestrial electronic communication services in a broad consideration. Practical...

On 4 February 2011, the Portuguese Parliament approved a new television law. The Socialist Party (PS) voted in favour of the new law, while both the Social Democratic Party (PSD) and the right wing Christian Democrats CDS-PPs abstained. The decree, called Decreto nº 76/XI, derives from the Proposta de Lei n.º 29/XI/1. ª (Bill no. 29/XI), which was previously approved by the Parliamentary Commission on Ethics, Society and Culture (13ª Comissão de Ética, Sociedade e Cultura). The new Television Law transposes the EU’s Audiovisual Media Services Directive (Directive no. 2007/65/CE - AVMSD) and makes...

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...

On 28 October 2010, the minister responsible for the media sector, Jorge Lacão Costa, approved the list of events that must be considered to be of general public interest. This communication (Despacho nº 16552-A/2010) was published in the official Portuguese bulletin on 29 October 2010 and states that these events must be broadcast by national terrestrial open access television channels only. This means that those who buy the exclusive rights for the transmission of these events should provide access through open access channels. As stated in the Television Act (Act 27/2007 of 30 July 2007, Article...