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The Independent Television Commission (ITC) has - after long-running pressure - ruled to allow the use of masthead programming on UK terrestrial television channels. Presently, masthead programmes (programmes that feature the brand and editorial style of an existing publication) are only permitted on cable and satellite. The ITC announced also that it is to strengthen its rules to ensure that the further expansion of masthead programmes does not blur the distinction between editorial content and advertising. The changes to the Code of Programme Sponsorship (see IRIS 1997-4: 11) specify that programmes...

On 31 March the Flemish Parliament voted some important amendments to the 1995 Decree on radio and television. The revision of this Decree was necessary considering the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Communities (CJEC) on the application of the Television without Frontiers Directive (Case C11/95, CJEC 10 September 1996 and Case C-56/96, CJEC 5 June 1997, see IRIS 1996-10: 3 and IRIS 1997-7: 5) and because of the decision of 26 June 1997 by the European Commission (see IRIS 1997-9: 4) that considered the monopoly of the Flemish commercial broadcasting organisation ( VTM) to be...

Under a judgment given by the Federal Administrative Court (Bundesverwaltungsgericht - BVerwG) on 11 March 1998, trailers for films rated suitable only for over-16s or over-18s by the Voluntary Self-Monitoring Authority ( Freiwillige Selbstkontrolle - FSK) may not be shown before 10 or 11 p.m. The regulations on protection of children and adolescents embodied in par. 3, sub-par. 2 to 4 of the Agreement between Federal States on Broadcasting (Rundfunkstaatsvertrages - RfStV), in the third amended version of 26.8-11.9.1996, are satisfied only if restrictions on the times at which films containing...

In September 1997 IRIS reported on a Communication from the European Commission on a proposal for a European Parliament and Council Directive on the legal protection of services based on, or consisting of, conditional access (see IRIS 1997-8: 8). This covers television broadcasting services, sound radio broadcasting and information society services where these are provided on the basis of conditional access. The aim is to prohibit the manufacture, import, sale or possession for commercial purposes of an illegal device and its installation, maintenance or replacement for commercial purposes, and...

In a judgment given on 7 April 1998, the First Criminal Chamber of the Federal Court (Strafsenat des Bundesgerichtshofs - BGH) upheld an earlier judgment by the Traunstein Regional Court (Landesgericht - LG), acquitting two accused persons of conspiring to commit crimes involving kidnap, murder, sexual abuse of children, rape and sexual violence. Using the pseudonyms "Leather Witch" and "Sado-Hangman", the accused operated a so-called "S/M studio", which they advertised on the Internet. Via E-mail, they offered to provide an undercover investigative journalist with...