Search results : 1521

On 20 June 2012, the Act amending Act on Yleisradio Oy and Act on the State Television and Radio Fund was adopted by the Finnish Parliament. Yleisradio Oy (YLE) is Finland's national public service broadcasting company. YLE operates four national television channels and six radio channels and services complemented by 25 regional radio programmes. YLE is 99.9 % state-owned and is supervised by a Supervisory Board appointed by the Parliament. It operates under the Act on Yleisradio Oy. Until the end of 2012, its activities are financed by the television license revenue. The annual television license...

On 23 May 2012, the Bundesverwaltungsgericht (Federal Administrative Court - BVerwG), in a judgment that has not yet been published in full, ruled that the Bundesländer may, in their media legislation, empower the Landesmedienanstalten (Land media authorities - LMA) to confiscate advertising income received by private TV broadcasters in connection with programmes judged to be illegal. The case concerned clips shown in the “Bimmel-Bingo” section of the programme “TV total” broadcast by the TV company ProSieben, in which a camera crew had rung the doorbells of single-family houses unannounced at...

On 23 May 2012, the Bundeskommunikationssenat (Federal Communications Board - BKS) ruled that Österreichischer Rundfunk (Austrian public service broadcaster - ORF) had not infringed the ban on sponsorship of news programmes and political information broadcasts enshrined in Article 17(4) of the ORF-Gesetz (ORF Act - ORF-G) by broadcasting its weekly “Schauplatz Börse” programme. A complaint had been lodged, arguing that the programme “Schauplatz Börse” was a topical news programme for the stock market and financial sector, which should not be sponsored. The topical nature of the programme was clear...

On 3 May 2012 the Nordic Consumer Ombudsmen presented a Joint Position regarding marketing in social media. These kinds of guidelines are not legally binding, but are generally well regarded and relied upon by Swedish courts when determining good market practices. In the Joint Position, the Nordic Consumer Ombudsmen confirmed that Marknadsföringslagen (the Swedish Marketing Practices Act - MPA) is technology neutral and applies in full to social media. The Joint Position deals among other things with issues such as (i) unsolicited commercial messages, especially relating to Facebook as this was...

On 19 March 2012 Granskningsnämnden för radio och TV (the Swedish Broadcasting Commission - GRN) delivered a decision regarding the promotion of a commercial interest in an improper manner in a television program. The case concerned the application of sections 5:5, 17:5 and 19:4 of Radio- och TV-lagen (The Radio- and Televisions Act - RTL). The RTL is based inter alia on Directive 89/552/ECC, as amended by 97/36/EC. Section 5:5 of the RTL states that programs that are not advertising may not encourage the purchase or rental of goods or services or provide other marketable foreign elements, or highlight...