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Ofcom has published two reports concerning public service broadcasters (PSBs) in fulfilment of its obligation under the Digital Economy Act 2017 to review the prominence of PSBs. The first report, entitled "Review of Prominence for Public Sector Broadcasting", explains the regulator's recommendations to government to ensure that PSBs remain easy for TV viewers to find and watch on connected services and devices. The second report, "The Future of Public Service Media", gives Ofcom’s view as to the future of public service media. In the first report, Ofcom proposes legislation to guarantee public...

RT has been fined GBP 200 000 by Ofcom following its previous decision (see Iris 2019-3/17) that the broadcaster had breached the regulator’s due impartiality Code of Conduct rules concerning seven programmes broadcast by the channel over a period of approximately seven weeks between 17 March 2018 and 4 May 2018, primarily concerning the poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, in Salisbury on 4 March 2018. One of the seven programmes concerned coverage of the Syrian conflict and adopting a pro Russian stance without acquiring alternative or opposing opinions. The Ofcom licence for...

On 4 July 2019, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) delivered a judgment on whether Lithuania’s media authority could impose an obligation on all broadcasters requiring that a UK-based channel could be broadcast in Lithuania only in pay-to-view packages, as it had found that one of its programmes “contained information that incited hatred”. The CJEU held that such a measure did not infringe Article 3(1) of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMSD), which provides that member states “shall not restrict retransmissions” of broadcasts from another member state. The case concerned...

Under section 123 of the Data Protection Act, the Information Commissioner must prepare a code of practice that contains such guidance as the Commissioner considers appropriate in respect of standards regarding the age-appropriate design of relevant “information society” services that are likely to be accessed by children. The Code must be presented to Parliament; thereafter, under section 127, it must be taken into account by the Commissioner when considering whether an online service has complied with its data-protection obligations. The Commissioner in drafting the code is required to consider...

On 16 May 2019, Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, settled privacy and data protection claims against Splash News and Picture Agency, who used a helicopter to take photographs of his home in Oxfordshire. The property is located in a secluded area surrounded by private farmland which is not accessible to photographers. In January 2019, Splash, a paparazzi agency which takes and syndicates images for commercial gain, chartered a helicopter which flew over Prince Harry’s home at low altitude allowing it to take photographs “of and into the living area and dining area of the home and directly into the bedroom.” The...