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On 22 February 2005 the Parliament of the Czech Republic approved the new Electronic Communications Act. According to the principal policy documents of the European Union, the new law should enhance business in the sector. It should provide a set of rules which will play a major role in determining the economy of the whole country in a time of turbulent changes in market and technological developement. With this Act the content and specific processes for the implementation of the e-Europe 2002 Action Plan now apply in the Czech Republic. The new regulation will bring changes particularly in regard...

On 21 January 2005 the Parliament of the Czech Republic voted to amend the Czech Television (CT) Act with effect from 1 April 2005. The main thrust of the amendments is to implement Directive 2000/52/EC amending Directive 80/723/EEC on the transparency of financial relations between Member States and public undertakings (the Transparency Directive). The Transparency Directive's aim is to ensure disclosure of information about public funds and their use by public undertakings. The Directive requires that separate accounts be kept by any undertaking granted special or exclusive rights under Article 86(1)...

Central European Media Enterprises (CME), owned by US businessman Roland Lauder, is expected to return as an investor in the Czech television market in the first half of 2005. The company will acquire a majority holding in the Nova Group, which runs private broadcaster TV Nova. A significant condition for the takeover, which was announced in mid-December 2004, is that the Czech Broadcasting Council must give its consent. CME was originally a shareholder in TV Nova. However, the American company, which acted through a Dutch subsidiary, pulled out of the deal following a disagreement with the owner...

In December 2004, the President of the Úřad na ochranu hospodářské soutěže (Czech Cartels Authority) confirmed a fine of CZK 23 million (EUR 757,251.51) imposed by the Cartels Authority on Czech Telecom in February 2004 for abuse of a dominant market position. The proceedings had been instigated in 2003 following a complaint by a Czech competitor. The investigation into Czech Telecom had revealed that, between February 2002 and January 2003, the fees that Czech Telecom charged its competitors for access to ADSL networks were so high that none of these competitors had been able to operate at a profit....

The Czech Republic is planning to introduce digital terrestrial television in the near future (see IRIS 2004-3: 6). In November 2004, the Broadcasting Council invited tenders for two DVB-T networks. Previously, temporary licences to provide DVB-T services on a trial basis in the Prague and Brno areas had been granted to the Czech Digital Group, Ceske Radiokommunikace and Cesky Telecom. By the end of 2004, three multiplexes for digital terrestrial television had been established. The call for tenders relates to two multiplexes, each carrying four TV channels and several radio stations. The third...