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Although sponsorship of programmes has been allowed in the United Kingdom for fifteen years, sponsorship of channels has so far not been permitted. The Office of Communications (Ofcom) has announced that, after extensive consultation, it has decided to amend its Broadcasting Code to permit the sponsorship of commercial television channels and radio stations. Important safeguards are retained to preserve editorial integrity and to protect children. Originally Ofcom had proposed that channels which contained programmes which could not be sponsored (news and current affairs) could not themselves be...

On 14 November 2006 the Court of Cassation delivered a noteworthy decision in a case involving an advertisement showing a photograph inspired by Leonardo da Vinci’s painting of “The Last Supper’ (and by the Da Vinci Code!) to promote a brand of clothing. Unlike the original painting, the characters here were women wearing the brand’s clothing, except for one man, whose bare back was shown. The advertisement, measuring 400 square metres, had been attached to the facade of a building in Paris for one month to mark the launch of the spring/summer collection of the brand in question. An association...

On 9 November 2006, the Bundestag adopted a bill banning tobacco advertising. The law is meant to transpose Directive 2003/33/EC on the advertising and sponsorship of tobacco products in media other than television. Under the new Act, tobacco advertising will be prohibited not only on television and radio, but also in newspapers, magazines and on the Internet. Sponsorship by tobacco manufacturers will also be restricted. Despite the deadline of 31 July 2005, Germany has still not transposed the Directive into domestic law; in fact, it complained to the Court of Justice of the European Communities...

At their conference in Bad Pyrmont from 18 to 20 October 2006, the Minister-Presidents of the Länder agreed to continue the state betting monopoly. As the current Chair of the Conference of Minister-Presidents, Lower Saxony is responsible, along with the Länder of Bavaria, Berlin, North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate, for organising a hearing on the draft Staatsvertrag zum Glücksspielwesen (Inter-State Gambling Agreement). One of the main amendments is the ban on advertising for public gambling services on television, via the Internet and by telephone. An exemption to the ban on TV advertising...

In an explanatory letter to Parliament, the minister of Education, Culture and Science has responded to the findings of three different studies that have recently been completed. The first of these studies is a report by TNO (an independent research organisation) about the future of commercials in a digital television landscape. This report concludes that in order to retain their current position and influence, commercial and public broadcasters should expand their activities toward digital services such as on-demand video and search machines. TNO predicts that traditional television commercials...