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In September 2005, ORF acquired 50% of the shares in TW1 and is now the sole shareholder in the specialist TV channel. ORF now owns the shares previously held by Sitour GmbH, which provides advertising in ski resorts. Since it was founded by ORF and Sitour in 1997, TW1 has provided a free digital service, broadcasting 24 hours a day across Europe with emphasis on leisure, travel, weather and sport. It can be received by 51% of Austrian households via cable and digital satellite. The ORF Foundation Board has yet to ratify the purchase.

In late July 2005 the Verband Österreichischer Privatsender (Austrian Commercial Broadcasters' Association - VÖP) made a complaint to the European Commission asking it to investigate the public-service programming remit of Österreichischer Rundfunk (the Austrian public-service broadcaster - ORF) as well as ORF's financing from advertising revenue and licence fees, and its involvement in the specialist channel TW1. The VÖP claimed that ORF itself determined the level of licence fees without any external supervision. It also complained that exclusive rights to cover winter sports organised by the...

In June 2004, the Bundeskanzleramt (Federal Chancellery) tabled a bill amending the Mediengesetz (Media Act, see IRIS 2004-7: 5). The Government bill was discussed and adopted by the Nationalrat (National Assembly) in the spring and entered into force in June 2005. The 1981 Media Act did not previously take into account the specific features of electronic media, which led to confusion concerning whether all of its provisions actually applied to information on the Internet and mass emailings. Since the specific characteristics of the Internet were not taken into account, strict regulations applied...

On 16 December 2003 the European Commission authorised State subsidies in the field of television production (see IRIS 2004-1: 0) until 31 December 2004. Thus if Austria wanted to continue to grant subsidies without violating Community law, it was required to re-apply to the Commission for authorisation, which it did on 20 April 2005. The bill submitted to the Commission for authorisation included a number of minor changes regarding the precise definition of the proportion of capital that the beneficiaries of subsidies must contribute, the rights of use, and the procedure that must be followed....

On 20 January 2005, the Munich Obe rlandesgericht (Court of Appeal - OLG) dismissed a complaint by a management consultancy company against a journalist. The plaintiff had made a claim for an injunction, information and damages because the defendant, while investigating an allegation of surreptitious advertising in an ARD evening series, had used business documents belonging to the plaintiff and a secretly filmed video. The video shows a female employee of the plaintiff in a sales meeting with syndicate representatives, offering to place certain themes or products in the series in return for payment....