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The government of the Czech Republic has adopted a support programme for the film industry. Under this programme, film producers who invest a certain sum in the production of a film in the Czech Republic can claim back 20% of that sum in the form of a tax bonus. The producer must have its headquarters and pay taxes in the Czech Republic. Co-productions may also receive support. The programme lays down the conditions under which support is available, although there is no legal right to it. The Ministry of Culture decides on the granting of support, which is only possible on the basis of a written...

The Czech Film Fund has been set up to support competitive feature length films at the project development, production and exploitation stages if the films concerned are to be shown in cinemas, on television and/or in other audiovisual media. The anticipated cultural value is assessed by an independent body of experts (the Film Fund Council) after considering, inter alia, the quality of the submission, especially the planning, the script and the cast lists. Other important considerations are the economic and technical quality expected on the basis of the plan submitted and the project’s likely...

On 15 September 2009, the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) made public its latest reports on the Czech Republic, Greece and Switzerland, adopted in the fourth round of its monitoring of the laws, policies and practices to combat racism in the Member States of the Council of Europe (for commentary on earlier reports, see IRIS 2009-8: 5, IRIS 2009-5: 4, IRIS 2008-4: 6, IRIS 2006-6: 4 and IRIS 2005-7: 3). Three main recommendations dealing with the (audiovisual) media and/or the Internet can be distilled from relevant sections of these reports. First, in each of the reports,...

The arbitration proceedings between the Czech Republic and the Luxembourg-based company European Media Ventures concerning the broadcaster TV3, conducted by the court of arbitration in London, were decided in favour of the Czech Republic. The proceedings were opened in 2005, although the case itself had begun before that. In 1999, a sole trader was granted a licence to broadcast regional television programmes in Prague and Hradec Králové. When he started broadcasting, he was supported by the company EMV. In principle, a broadcasting licence may not be transferred to another person. However, it...

The Czech Parliament has adopted an amendment to the Broadcasting Act, which is known to the public as the "digital radio amendment" and is designed to support radio digitisation. In fact, however, the amendment barely deals with the subject of digitisation and it remains largely unclear what radio digitisation will be like. The amendment relaxes media concentration rules in the radio sector and redefines the concept of national radio stations. The latter are now defined as channels that can be received by at least 80% of the population, whereas previously the figure was 70%. Regional radio broadcasters...