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The European Court of Human Rights recently delivered a judgment regarding defamation and insult on the Internet. The Court was of the opinion that the sharp and polemical criticism of the public figure in question was part of an ongoing emotional political debate and that the criminal conviction for defamation and insult amounted to a violation of the freedom of expression guaranteed by Article 10 of the European Convention of Human Rights. The applicant in the case was Patrice Renaud. He is the founder of a local association (Comité de défense du quartier sud de Sens) opposing...

On 23 March 2010, the Conseil Supérieur de l'Audiovisuel (audiovisual regulatory body - CSA) gave its agreement to TF1’s purchase of the AB Group’s free-to-air channels TMC and NT1, adding a number of new conditions, including some involving programmes, to those already laid down by the competition authority (Autorité de la Concurrence) in January 2010. The CSA noted that the plan observed the rules restricting the concentration of DTTV channels and has obtained substantial undertakings from TF1 guaranteeing the pluralism and diversity of the programme offer in the interests of viewers. As a result,...

Inaugurating the international market for television programmes (MIPTV) on 12 April, the Minister for Culture and Communication Frédéric Mitterrand recalled his preoccupation with the difficult situation French fiction finds itself in, seriously affected as it is by the economic crisis. On the basis of the annual balance sheet of the national cinematographic centre (Centre National Cinématographique - CNC), highlighting a volume of French fiction on television that was 17.6% lower than in 2008, whereas all the other genres (documentaries, animation, live shows) had increased in 2009, the Minister...

On 8 January 2008, the French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced his desire to abolish advertising on the public-sector television channels. A year later the Act on audiovisual communication and new-style public-service television was adopted, following on from the recommendations of the “Commission on the new-style public-service television” chaired by Mr Copé, introducing the gradual abolition of advertising on public-service channels between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m. (in force since 5 January 2009), pending its total abolition by the end of 2011 (end of analog television) (see IRIS 2009-4:10/14). Things...

The CNC’s reaction was not long in coming. On 1 February 2010, the Autorité de la Concurrence (national competition authority) had invited it to look into alternative solutions to the mutualisation fund envisaged to ensure the financing of the digitisation of cinema theatres that would be more economical and less restrictive in terms of competition (see IRIS 2010-3: 1/23). On 17 February, taking note of these prescriptions, the cinema regulator presented the outlines of a new arrangement aimed at guaranteeing the speedy digitisation of all cinema theatres (900 screens have already been equipped,...