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As reported previously (see IRIS 2009-10: 16/22) Latvia is planning to adopt a new Electronic Media Law which is intended to transpose the AVMSD. The Electronic Media Law (Draft) is not the first draft intended to replace the 1995 Radio and Television Law currently in force. As media laws have traditionally been a widely discussed topic among the Latvian public, the previous attempts have been unsuccessful. Also, the progress of the Draft in the Saeima (Latvian Parliament) is far from smooth. However, it may be hoped that this draft will be adopted, as otherwise Latvia may face severe consequences...

The UK Competition Commission, the country’s main competition authority, has decided that the Contract Rights Renewal (CRR) undertakings required of ITV1, the largest commercial broadcaster, are to continue. The undertakings were imposed by the Competition Commission and the Secretary of State after the merger of Carlton and Granada in 2003 to create a single ITV plc. They reflected concerns about the effect of the enhanced market position of the new company on competition in the sale of television advertising airtime. The undertakings allow buyers of advertising airtime to roll forward their pre-merger...

The Act designed to open up to competition and regulate the on-line gaming sector adopted on 6 April 2010 was gazetted on 13 May 2010, after validation by the Constitutional Council, thereby achieving the French Government’s aim of allowing the market to be liberalised before the start of the football World Cup. The Act is intended to open up the market for on-line gaming (betting on sporting events, betting on horse racing, and poker) in a regulated fashion by authorising, through the new authority regulating on-line gaming (Autorité de Régulation des Jeux en Ligne - ARJEL), operators who will...

On 8 June 2010, the Bundesgerichtshof (Federal Supreme Court - BGH) confirmed the decision taken by the Bundeskartellamt (Federal Cartel Office - BKartA) in 2006 to ban the merger between Axel Springer AG and TV broadcaster ProSiebenSat1. The BKartA had prohibited the planned merger due to concerns about competition (see IRIS 2006-4: 10/16). Springer's appeal against this decision was initially rejected by the Oberlandesgericht Düsseldorf (Düsseldorf Regional Appeal Court - OLG) as inadmissible. Springer successfully appealed to the BGH against this ruling and the matter was referred back to the...

On 26 April 2010, the Vlaamse Regulator voor de Media (Flemish Regulator for the Media - monitoring and enforcement of media regulation) again addressed the public broadcasting corporation VRT for breach of the regulation on product placement. The violation once again occurred in the Sunday morning information programme ‘De Zevende Dag’ (freely translated, ‘The Seventh Day’) (see “Public Broadcaster, Shocking Images, and Product Placement”, see IRIS 2010-5: 1/9). A report focusing exclusively on the opening of the new restaurant ‘Kwint’ in Brussels and lasting approximately three minutes was broadcast...