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The Portuguese Council of Ministers has approved a Resolution allowing for the creation of a fifth national free-access TV channel on the upcoming Digital Terrestrial Television platform. The Resolution, approved on 3 January 2008, states that the available radio spectrum capacity on Multiplex A is to be reserved for: a) the broadcasting of a new free-access TV programme service not subject to any conditions; b) the non-simultaneous broadcasting (until the shut-down of analogue television) of High Definition streams from service providers available on Multiplexer A; c) other electronic communication...

The new Portuguese Television Act nº27/2007 of 30 July regulating both access to, and exercise of, broadcasting activities has been published in the Diário da República (Official Journal of the Republic). Marking the conclusion of a process which had been initiated by the government in the second semester of 2006 (see IRIS 2007-1: 15), the new Act partially transposes into the national legal order the Directive Television without Frontiers and revokes both Act nº 32/2003 of 22 August and Decree-Law nº 237/98 of 5 August. Articles 4 and 5 of the former will, however, remain effective until a new...

The European Court of Human Rights has once again ruled in favour of freedom of expression, this time regarding an interview on television. The Court considered the conviction of a journalist, Mr. Colaço Mestre and of the broadcasting company, Sociedade Independente de Comunicação (SIC), as a violation of the freedom of expression guaranteed by Article 10 of the Convention. In 1996, as part of a television programme entitled Os donos da bola (masters of the ball), SCI broadcast an interview conducted by Mr. Colaço Mestre with Gerhard Aigner, who at the time was General...

On 30 October 2006, the minister responsible for the media sector , Augusto Ernesto Santos Silva, signed an official communication in the Diário da República (Official Journal), containing the list of events which must be broadcast by national terrestrial open access television channels. According to the Television Act (Act 32/2003 of 22 August 2003, Article 28), the Government should publish annually a list of important events that cannot be exclusively broadcast by non-national restricted access channels. The official communication (despacho nº22025/2006 ) comprises only sports events, particularly...

On 16 November 2006, the Portuguese Council of Ministers approved a Draft Television Bill. The Bill was open for public consultation until 15 December 2006 and aims at replacing both Act nº32/2003 of 22 August 2003 and Decree-Law nº237/98 of 5 August 1998. With this Draft the Government intends to detail the legal criteria for the granting and renewal of TV licenses, to adapt the legislation to technological changes (namely the introduction of Digital Terrestrial TV), to abolish the existing differences between the public service obligations imposed on state-owned channels (thus re-incorporating...