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A Committee has been set up by the Secretary of State for Culture Media and Sport to review and recommend changes to the existing list of major sporting events for which live coverage must be made available on free-to-air channels (see Part IV of the Broadcasting Act 1996). The views of rights-holders are being sought and will be made available to the Committee. The main criterion to be used in deciding which, if any, sporting events should be listed is whether "the event has a special national resonance...an event which serves to unite the nation; a shared point in the national calendar." The...

The Scottish courts decided that a defamatory statement made to the BBC was not protected by the doctrine of `qualified privilege' as the BBC is no different from any other media organisation. This doctrine serves to protect certain defamatory statements from creating liability where they fall into categories where it is seen as especially important for the public interest that free communications takes place, for example reports of inquiries or communications with members of Parliament. The court rejected the claim that the BBC performed a special role of a `watchdog in society' and that in reporting...

Chris Smith, the Secretary of State for Culture, Media And Sport has issued a licence to the BBC to broadcast its round-the-clock news channel BBC News 24. Although a licence was already granted to the BBC in July, the BBC withdrew its original application to broadcast a 24-hour news service, to protect itself from the threat of judicial review by BskyB. BSkyB had accused the BBC of predatory pricing because the corporation is to offer the service free to cable networks, in comparison with BskyB who sells its own 24-hour news service to the cable companies for about 50p per subscriber. The BBC's...

The High Court decided on 25 November that it was neither unlawful nor irrational for the owner of a closed-circuit television system (in this case a local authority) to release footage to the media for the purpose of showing how succesful the system was in the prevention and detection of crime. However, the judge recognised that there might be "undesirable invasions of a person's privacy." In this case, a man's face was identified by family and friends as it was inadequately masked. The judge proposed that, until the Europena Convention on Human Rights had been fully incorpoarted into law, reliance...

The Independent Television Commission have decided to recommend that the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport seek a Proscription Order in respect of the foreign satellite channel "Eurotica Rendez Vous" under Section 177 of the Broadcasting Act 1990. In recommending such an Order the ITC has to have regard to its effectiveness, namely, is there a trade for the service in the UK that can be affected by the Order? Eurotica is actively marketed and advertised in satellite listings magazines and dealers sell decoders and smartcards to enable it to be viewed in the country. Offences under...