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On 27 March 2019, two separate decisions from the Junta Electoral Central (Central Electoral Commission - JEC) and from the Junta Electoral Provincial de Barcelona (Barcelona Electoral Commission - JEPB) ruled that the public service Corporació Catalana de Mitjans Audiovisuals (Catalan Audiovisual Media Corporation - CCMA) had infringed the legislation concerning media and elections. According to the Ley Orgánica del régimen electoral general (Representation of the People Institutional Act - LOREG), which regulates the use of mass media for electoral campaigning, the Electoral Administration has...

The advertising landscape for German private TV broadcasters has, for many years, included advertisements for gambling services that are illegal under the Glücksspielstaatsvertrag (Inter-State Gambling Agreement - GlüStV) of the German Länder. It has long been disputed whether these advertising campaigns can be based on the online gambling licences that were awarded in Schleswig-Holstein at a time when the Land followed its own path by relaxing the rules on gambling. The online gambling licences awarded in Schleswig-Holstein expired at the start of February 2019. As a result, television, radio...

On 18 February 2019, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) Committee published its Final Report on disinformation and fake news (“the Report”), following on from its July 2018 Interim Report. Since then, the Committee has held three further evidence sessions, inviting UK regulators and the Government to give evidence, as well as receiving a further 23 written submissions. In November 2018 the Committee hosted an “International Grand Committee”, inviting parliamentarians from nine countries. The Report develops the areas covered in the Interim Report,...

The findings of the Cairncross Review (“the Review”), chaired by Dame Frances Cairncross were published on 12 February 2019; it made nine recommendations for addressing two primary issues: (i) is the market in which publishers operate a fair one or has the growth of large online platforms, such as Google and Facebook, created distortions that justify government intervention? (ii) how should society continue to support the monitoring of, and reporting on, the activities of public bodies - not just central government, but also local councils, courts and inquests. The Review referred to this type...

On 21 February 2019, at the request of the National Assembly’s Committee on Cultural Affairs and Education, the French competition authority published its opinion on the forthcoming audiovisual reforms. The authority’s key proposal is for the relaxation of restrictions on traditional audiovisual providers in order to enable them to compete on equal terms with online video platforms (e.g. Amazon and Netflix). The evidence is clear: these new platforms, which entered the market in 2014 and have more subscribers in France than Canal Plus (Netflix has over 5 million subscribers) have adopted an innovative...