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In a judgement delivered on 2 September 1998, the Brussels Court of Appeal overturned a judgement by the Brussels Commercial Court on 29 December 1997 which, in response to an application by the private-sector channel RTL-TVi, had prohibited RTBF inserting advertising breaks in American series broadcast in the afternoons. In the initial proceedings, the Commercial Court held that the advertising breaks were contrary to RTBF's contractual management regulations, according to which "advertising may not interrupt programmes, particularly films, or the various sequences of any one programme". On...

On the basis of the revised Flemish Broadcasting Decree ( see IRIS 1998-1: 12, IRIS 1998-2: 9, IRIS 1998-5: 13 and IRIS 1998-9: 9) which has abrogated the exclusivity of the license of the Flemish commercial broadcasting organisation VTM, an additional licence has now been given to a new private TV-broadcaster, Event TV Vlaanderen (Art. 41, 1°). On 4 December 1998 the Flemish Media Authority ( Vlaams Commissariaat voor de Media) has authorised Event TV to broadcast for a period of nine years. The new commercial channel will operate under a "must carry" rule, which means that the transmission...

The Flemish Council for Disputes in radio and television ( Vlaamse Geschillenraad voor radio en televisie) has for the first time found a breach of journalistic ethics by a Flemish broadcasting organisation. VRT, the public broadcasting organisation, is considered to have infringed the duty of impartiality in a news programme, in this case a news programme for the younger generation. The litigious Studio.Ket programme reported on a shop where clothes for priests and objects Catholic worship were sold. After a complaint from the head of the Press and Information Office of the Conference of Bishops,...

Due to a different approach in both the Flemish and the French Community in Belgium with regard to the elaboration of a new framework for the allocation of radio frequencies, the application of some articles of the revised Flemish Broadcasting Decree ( see IRIS 1998-9: 9-10) has been postponed. An amendment to the Broadcasting Decree allows Flemish local radios to keep their actual authorisations until 31 December 2001 (Decree of 15 December 1998, Moniteur 31 December 1998. See also http://staatblad.be). Meanwhile, both Communities, the federal Department of Telecommunications and the BIPT (Belgian...

On 26 June 1998 the Presiding Judge of the Court of First Instance in Brussels delivered a judgement in the case between SABAM, a company which manages copyright fees, and the Professional Union of Radio and Television Distribution (RTD), an umbrella organisation for Belgian cable distributors. The Presiding Judge noted violation of Articles 51 and 52 of the Copyright and Neighbouring Rights Act of 30 June 1994. Article 51 states that originators have the exclusive right to authorise the retransmission by cable of their works. Retransmission by cable is taken to mean the simultaneous, unaltered...