Search results : 244

On 16 July 2010 the draft amendments to the Закон за авторското право и сродните му права (Copyright and Related Rights Act) were filed in Parliament by the Government. In general the draft was approved by a decision of the Council of Ministers on 16 May and had to be filed earlier, but some doubts arose regarding the provisions regulating the obligations concerning the payment of compensation for personal use (levies) and the draft was revised. According to the provisions of May 2010 the Government took the view that additional rules for the collection of levies were necessary in order that the...

On 24 June 2010, the European Commission issued a set of reasoned opinions to 12 member states (Austria, Cyprus, Estonia, Greece, Finland, Hungary, Lithuania, Luxemburg, Latvia, Poland, Portugal, and Slovenia) requesting that they proceed with updating their national broadcasting legislation in order to bring it into compliance with the Audiovisual Media Service (AVMS) Directive. The Directive, which replaced the Television without Frontiers Directive of 1989 (as amended), was adopted in December 1997 with the intention of bringing the EU’s broadcasting rules up to speed with the digital age. The...

In its session on 21 May 2010 the Council for Electronic Media resolved to issue 18 licenses for the carrying out of television activities for channels intended for broadcasting by means of networks for terrestrial digital radio broadcasting with a national scope. These are in particular Bulgaria Cable TV OOD (for the channel “Bulgaria TV”); Television Europe AD (for the channel “Television Europe”); Radio Veselina EAD (for the channel “The Voice TV”); TV Guide Network OOD (for the channel “TV Guide”); Television Varna AD (for the channel “Television Varna”); Pink BG EOOD (for the channel “PINK...

On 26 May 2010 the Council of Ministers generally approved the amendments to the Закон за авторското право и сродните му права (Copyright and Related Rights Act - ЗАПСП) proposed by the Ministry of Culture. The draft includes some basic changes concerning the status of collecting societies. This is the second attempt by the Government to improve the regulation on the activities of the collective management societies in Bulgaria. The previous attempt was made one year ago but could not finish with completed a draft because the different parties that participated in the consultations did not come...

On 20 April 2010, the transaction for the acquisition of the bTV media group by Central European Media Enterprises Ltd. (CME) was completed (see IRIS 2010-4: 1/10). It involves the leader in the television market in Bulgaria bTV, the cable channels bTV Cinema and bTV Comedy, as well as a few radio stations. The cost of the transaction amounts to USD 400 million plus the payment of USD 13 million working capital. By its Decision No. 385 of 8 April 2010 the Commission on the Protection of Competition permitted the acquisition of direct unilateral control on the part of CME Media Enterprises B.V....