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The Office of Communications (Ofcom) has now issued the second phase of its review of public service broadcasting, as required by the Communications Act 2003 (for the first phase, see IRIS 2004-6: 12). Final conclusions will be issued after further consultation. According to the Review, the move into the digital age will destroy the current balance of institutions, funding and regulation which has up to now supported public service broadcasting. The latter has depended on hidden subsidies through the free use of analogue spectrum which will become valueless; this should be replaced by explicit...

The Office of Communications (Ofcom) has completed consultation regarding the Code on electronic programme guides (EPGs) required by the Communications Act 2003, and has issued a final version. The Act requires that the Code gives appropriate prominence to public service channels, includes provision for people with disabilities affecting their sight and hearing (see IRIS 2004-8: 9), and it is also covered by the regulator's general duty to secure fair and effective competition (Sections 310, 316). The Code is general in nature and is deliberately limited in its degree of direct prescription. In...

As already noted (see IRIS 2004-4: 10), the UK Chancellor announced in his 2004 Budget speech that the so-called "Section 48 relief" was going to be abolished on its expiry in July 2005. A new system of tax relief for "qualifying British films" was announced during September 2004. It will take effect from July 2005 and the legal basis will be the Finance Act 2005. Transitional arrangements will apply to films in production on 2 July 2005. The new arrangements mean that "The production company will be entitled to a deduction of 150% of total production expenditure which it can offset against income...

The global legal battle by international and national bodies representing the phonographic industry against allegedly illegal file-sharers has moved to the UK. So far, actions against P2P file-sharing networks sharers have been pursued in the USA by the RIAA and in Denmark, Germany, and Italy by the IFPI or its affiliates. Networks involved include KaZaA, WinMX, eMule and iMesh. At the beginning of October, British Phonographic Industry (the IFPI's UK affiliate) announced it was taking legal action against 28 UK-based files-sharers using e.g., the KaZaA, Imesh, Grokster, Bearshare and WinMX networks....

The English High Court recently handed down the first judgment relating to the circumvention of copyright protection. The case invoked the 2003 copyright law transposing the EC Copyright Directive (2001/29/EC) into UK law (see IRIS 2004-1: 13). The case was brought by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe against 6 defendants. At issue was the legality of people dealing in modified Sony PlayStation2 chips. Buyers were enabled to play computer games imported from other regions (e.g., USA and/or Asia) on hardware encoded for Europe (which utilises the PAL standard). The chips (known as "Messiah 2 mod...