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On 3 September 2008, the Entidade Reguladora para a Comunicação Social (Portuguese media regulatory body - ERC), handed down a decision holding bullfighting to be “an integrant part of the Portuguese ethos” and stating that there are no reasons that justify its interdiction from television programming. The deliberation 13/CONT-TV/2008 results from a complaint put forward by Mr. Pedro Henrique Assunção Grilo, who argued that the private channel Televisão Independente (TVI) should not have broadcast a bullfight on 5 June 2008 before 22:30h and without an identifying symbol advising viewers on the...

On 19 June 2008, the Council of Ministers of the Portuguese government approved a Proposta de Lei do pluralismo e da não concentração nos meios de comunicação social (Draft law on pluralism and non-concentration of the media). The draft law was sent to the national Parliament, where it will be discussed and most probably approved, as the government party has the majority of the votes. According to the Council of Ministers, this law aims to promote pluralism and independence vis-à-vis political and economic powers and to avoid media concentration. In order to achieve these general goals, the proposed...

On 26 June 2008, the European Court of First Instance ruled that Articles 1 and 2 of Commission Decision 2005/406/EC of 15 October 2003 on ad hoc measures implemented by Portugal for RTP should be annulled. The Commission’s decision had considered that government measures in favour of RTP, the Public Service Broadcaster, developed in the late 1990s had been under the scope of Public Service and did not constitute state aid. The court has found that (67) “the Commission – since it did not examine whether, despite its selective nature, the exemption from notarial charges did not constitute State...

On the 30 May 2008, the 12º Vara Cível de Lisboa , a Portuguese Court, prohibited the exhibition of the programme “44.ª Corrida TV” (44^th TV bullfighting), scheduled by the Public Service Broadcaster, Rádiotelevisão Portuguesa (RTP), for Sunday afternoon (8 June) at 17h00. The Court decided that bullfighting could not be broadcast before 22h30 and without an identifying symbol advising viewers of the violent nature of the programme's content. In a country with a long tradition of bullfighting, this landmark decision was taken following a complaint of the animal rights association Animal,...

The rules for the allocation of Digital Terrestrial Television concessions, nº 207-A/2008, have been published in the Official Journal. The document establishes that there are two distinct public calls for tender: the first deals with the award of a national coverage license, concerning Multiplex A, for the transmission of TV programmes with non-conditional access. The second covers the granting, to one sole entity, of five frequency usage rights to the transmission of TV channels with either conditional or non-conditional access (two of these corresponding to national coverage licenses, concerning...