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The Parliament of the Czech Republic has passed a new Broadcasting Act, against which the President of the Republic has exercised his veto. He rejected the Act because it prevented competition by more or less entitling current broadcasters to have their licences automatically extended. However, the second parliamentary chamber overturned the veto on 26 June 2001. The Act is designed to transpose Directive 89/552/EEC on the Co-ordination of certain Provisions laid down by Law, Regulation or Administrative Action in Member States concerning the Pursuit of Television Broadcasting Activities, as amended...

In March 2001, the Public Prosecutor's Office abandoned its criminal action against two daily newspaper journalists (under Czech criminal law, the public prosecutor can decide, after an investigation, whether a case should be brought before a court or abandoned). The journalists had reported on an alleged attempt to discredit a popular government politician, which was said to have come from within her own party. The report had been the subject of libel proceedings. Both journalists had been called as witnesses and had refused, under the terms of the Press Act, to divulge the source of their information....

The Úrad na ochranu hospodárské souteze (Czech Monopolies Commission) has ruled on the alleged abuse of a dominant market position by a cable network operator. In order to dominate the market, the company concerned sold its services at a loss between 1998 and 2000. It concentrated on attracting as many customers as possible, taking no account of the relationship between the price it charged and its own operating costs. This anti-competitive practice was an example of so-called "predatory pricing" and excluded other competitors from the market. It was a form of suppressive competition which prevented...

On 23 January 2001, the Czech Parliament passed an amendment to the Czech Television Act. The amendment was drawn up after the Parliamentary Speaker declared a legislative state of emergency. At the end of last year, the appointment of a new Director General of Czech public service broadcasting led to mass strikes. The appointment was seen as an attempt to gain political control over public service television (see IRIS 2001-1: 7). Generally speaking, however, the amendments to the Act are not particularly far-reaching, although the role of public service television is newly and more precisely...

At the beginning of the year, the Czech government approved a draft amendment to the Czech Television Act no.483/1991 as amended in 1995 and to the Czech Radio Act no.484/1991. The purpose of the amendment is to revise the procedure for appointing the Director General of the public service broadcasters Ceská Televize (CT) and Cesk ´y rozhlas (CR). The appointment of a new CT Director General at the end of last year had led to mass strikes among the employees; the editorial offices and part of the production studio had also been occupied. Under the current law, the Director General is chosen by...