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In a decision on 22 September 2015, the Commissariaat voor de Media (the Dutch Media Authority - CvdM) imposed a EUR 275,500 fine on Stichting Omroep Limburg (SOL; more commonly known as L1), a regional Dutch public service broadcaster. According to the Dutch Media Authority, the broadcaster L1 was fined because of commercial interference, which violates the Dutch Media Act. Extensive investigation showed several serious violations in the areas of sponsorship and advertisement. In 2014, website operator and competitor of L1, WijLimburg B.V. filed a request for enforcement with the Dutch Media Authority....

On 29 October 2015, by decision no. 210/2015, the Constitutional Court ruled on the constitutional legitimacy of Article 38(5) of Legislative Decree no. 177/2005 (Consolidated Text of the audiovisual and radio media services) as amended in 2010, which states that pay-TV channels are subject to hourly advertising limits shorter than those which apply to free-to-air broadcasters. The Constitutional Court ruled that this provision is in full accordance with the Italian Constitution. Article 38 provides stricter limits than those provided by Directive 2010/13/EU. The difference between the limit provided...

On 9 November 2015, the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) published its new Guidelines on General Election Coverage (for previous guidelines, see IRIS 2014-5/23). The guidelines are designed to provide direction and advice to broadcasters as to how fairness, objectivity and impartiality can be achieved in their coverage of the upcoming general election in Ireland. Rule 27 of the BAI Code of Fairness, Objectivity and Impartiality in News and Current Affairs provides that broadcasters must comply with guidelines and codes of practice on election and referenda coverage. The new guidelines set...

Ofcom, the UK communications regulator, has decided to take the regulation of video-on-demand services in-house. These services were previously regulated by the Authority for Video on Demand (ATVOD), designated in 2010 as the co-regulator to take the lead in regulating editorial content for these services (see IRIS 2010-5/27). ATVOD originated as a self-regulatory body but was restructured with the creation of a board, with a majority of members independent of the industry. Ofcom retained concurrent responsibility to act in addition to, or in place of, ATVOD. The services include catch-up TV, on-demand...

In a judgment of 14 October 2015 (Case no. 6 C 17.14), the Bundesverwaltungsgericht (Federal Administrative Court - BVerwG) decided that a bumper introducing a block of commercials and linked to a programme announcement was in breach of the rules on separating TV programmes from advertising. During a break between two early evening programmes, the television broadcaster Sat.1 had broadcast commercial bumpers that included the word “Werbung” (advertisement). The bumpers also contained announcements for the programmes to follow. The Landeszentrale für Medien und Kommunikation Rheinland-Pfalz (Rhineland-Palatinate...