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The Independent Television Commission has fined a "lifestyle channel", You TV, GBP 20,000 for broadcasting misleading advertisements and passing off what were, essentially, advertisements for produced programmes. This had resulted in breaches of the Commission's Programme Code and Code of Advertising Standards. You TV is a satellite channel, launched in June 2002, School of Law University of Bristol and sister channel to Shop America. It covers issues mainly concerning health, beauty and the mind and maintains that it is not a teleshopping channel but a programme service, and wishes to remain...

The Independent Television Commission has rejected an appeal against an earlier decision by its staff that European Commission funding for a programme on the Euro breached its Sponsorship Code (see IRIS 2000-10: 7). The programme was in CNBC's "Euro Change" series, which had been partially funded by the European Commission. According to the Independent Television Commission's staff, it was a current affairs programme, and under the Code of Programme Sponsorship current affairs programmes may not be sponsored. This prohibition is to ensure that news and current affairs programmes are both free from...

In November 2002, in accordance with Art. 88(3) of the EC Treaty, the United Kingdom notified the European Commission of measures to support film and television productions in Wales. The scheme is called the Film Fund for Wales and is run by the Welsh Development Agency (WDA). The European Commission decided to approve the scheme under Art. 87(3)(d) of the EC Treaty. The decision was based on those taken to approve the aid granted for film and TV productions in Hamburg and Baden-Württemberg (see IRIS 2002-1: 0). In order to consider the development of the situation in the entire Community, the...

On 28 January 2003, the High Court of Justice decided, in a summary judgement, that Easyinternetcafe Ltd (owners and operators of a chain of cybercafés, part of the EasyGroup, owners and operators of EasyJet) was liable for copyright infringement. The action was brought by Sony Music and the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), representing a variety of labels - Universal, Virgin, Polydor and EMI. At issue was the legality of customers using CD "burners" on computers in the cafés in order to "burn", or copy into blank CDs copyrighted music that they had downloaded from the Internet. Easyinternet...

On 11 March 2003, acting on the advice of the Director-General of Fair Trading, the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry referred the proposed merger between Carlton Communications Plc and Granada Plc to the Competition Commission. The overall concern is whether the proposed merger may be expected to operate against the public interest. The main issue is that, if the proposed merger goes ahead, the new company will have more than 50% of television advertising revenue. Under the Fair Trading Act, section 64, references for investigation and report may be made in circumstances that "create...