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In 1997 the Television without Frontiers Directive, originally drafted in 1989, was amended to include a major innovation in the form of a new article 3a which has had a significant impact on the viewing of major events (and especially sports events) within the European Union. The underlying idea was to prevent such events as the recent England v. South Africa Rugby World Cup Final or the 2002 wedding of the Dutch crown prince from being monopolised by the holders of the exclusive rights to such events and withheld from the general public by way of encrypted transmission. Article 3a states: “each...

The UK communications regulator, the Office of Communications (Ofcom) has fined the Islam Channel GBP 30,000 for a number of breaches of its Broadcasting Code. The Code prohibits candidates in UK elections from acting as news presenters, interviewers, or presenters of any type of programme during the election period. It also requires that due impartiality be observed and that a range of significant views be included in programmes relating to matters of major political controversy. The Islam Channel is a specialist religious channel broadcasting on the Sky platform and it is directed at a largely...

The Digital Switchover (Disclosure of Information) Act 2007 permits the Department for Work and Pensions and other public authorities to disclose information to the BBC and to any company that the BBC makes use of for the purpose of the Digital Switchover Help Scheme. Digital switchover and the end of analogue television broadcasting will be implemented in the UK in stages between 2008 and 2012. The Government decided to assist this process by establishing the Digital Switchover Help Scheme to provide assistance to those aged 75 or over, those with a severe disability or those who are blind or...

The English High Court recently ruled against the BBC in a case in which it undertook the “ultimate balancing exercise”: weighing the claimant’s Article 8 right not to have her privacy invaded against the Corporation’s Article 10 right to freedom to broadcast. The BBC planned to broadcast one of a series of programmes on the topic of adoption. The programme in question dealt with the issue of a woman (T) whose two-year old daughter was being handed over to a couple for adoption, the authorities believing this to be in the best interests of the child. It was planned that footage would be broadcast...

In recent months, the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers (CM) adopted five country-specific Recommendations concerning the application of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages: Slovakia (first monitoring cycle); Slovenia and the United Kingdom (second monitoring cycle) and Hungary and Norway (third monitoring cycle). The Charter contains a number of provisions of relevance for the (audiovisual) media, the most detailed of which are to be found in Article 11. The latest Recommendations on the application of the Charter highlight a number of pertinent issues. In respect...