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In IRIS 1996-5: 7-10 we published an overview of the state of Signatures and Ratifications of European Conventions and other international treaties that are relevant to the audiovisual sector. We indicated that IRIS would keep you informed on a monthly basis of new signatures and ratification of relevant European Conventions. Therefore, we can now report that the: European Convention on Transfrontier Television was signed by Ukraine on 14 June 1996; and that the European Convention relating to questions on copyright law and neighbouring rights in the framework of transfrontier broadcasting by satellite,...

During the passage of the UK Broadcasting Bill, an attempt was made to change the provisions in the Bill prohibiting ownership of more than 20% of a Channel 3 licence holder by newspaper groups with more than 20% of national newspaper circulation. The effect of the provisions is to exclude Rupert Murdoch's News International, and the Mirror Groups from extending their participation in Channel 3. Proposals to lift the restriction were supported by two junior ministers and by the Labour opposition (which has traditionally been supported by the Mirror Group). The Government however decided to resist...

At the end of May, the Independent Television Commission (ITC) launched the first stage of a public consultation on the licensing of digital terrestrial television. Under the Broadcasting Bill, currently before Parliament, the ITC will be responsible for regulating and licensing digital television in the U.K. The framework established in the Bill is a two tier process under which the carriers of the services, the multiplex operators, are licensed separately from the programme and additional services providers. The first stage of consultation concerns the multiplex operators, for which the ITC...

Views expressed at BBC Governors' Seminar on taste and decency will be incorporated into a revised version of the Corporation's guidelines for programme makers. The Guidelines' section on taste and decency will see a strong emphasis placed on the importance of the watershed; that is the 9 o'clock boundary between programmes suitable for children to watch and those which are not. It will also reflect concerns about the use of bad language, and the portrayal of sex and violence. The concept of 'respect' as a key issue in determining where the boundaries should lie in issues of taste, sex and language...

The Independent Television Commission has just published its 1995 Performance Review of the ITV companies. This is an annual exercise. The report deals with three topics; the overall quality assessment of the ITV schedules; economic behaviour of the companies; and the performance of Channel 4. As regards the overall picture, the Commission finds that ITV has lost the balance between entertainment shows (in particular, as regards real-life and fictional crime programmes) and other genres, such as documentary and arts programmes. The Commission is concerned that the distinctive foundation of the...