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On 3 February 2015, the Russian President signed into law a bill adopted by the State Duma on 27 January 2015. The new law lifts the ban on commercials for pay cable and satellite television channels that do not broadcast (or rebroadcast) foreign content. The ban, which prohibits any commercials on pay television channels if the channels do not hold a terrestrial broadcasting license or are not on the list of must-carry programmes, became effective on 1 January 2015 (IRIS 2014-8/34). Reportedly, it could negatively affect media plurality with the coming digital switchover, when hundreds of regional...

In a ruling of 17 December 2014 (case no. 6 C 32.13), the Bundeswaltungsgericht (Federal Administrative Court - BVerwG) decided that it was not a breach of broadcasting law for advertising spots to be transmitted on a regional basis on a national television channel. The decision followed an announcement by the provider of the "ProSieben" television channel that it intended to offer regional advertising spots to advertising customers for whom national TV advertising was unattractive. The lower-instance Verwaltungsgericht Berlin (Berlin Administrative Court - VG Berlin), in a decision of 26 September...

On 23 January 2015, the Bulgarian Government adopted a programme for the stable development of the Republic of Bulgaria for the 2014-2018 period. One of the priorities as outlined under paragraph/section 18.1, which concerns the media landscape, is the: "[d]evelopment of a public landscape and legislation that guarantee media independence and pluralism as well as transparency and public disclosure of media ownership and media supervision". The Government's aim over the next four years is to adopt legislative amendments that will help "to achieve a transparent and competitive media landscape". The...

The Swedish Radio and Television Act (Radio- och TV-lagen), which has transposed the Audiovisual Media Services Directive 2010/13/EU (AVMS Directive) into Swedish law, includes a ban on the advertising of alcohol and on sponsorship by alcohol companies of television and radio broadcasts. Nevertheless, there are some television channels (TV3, TV6, TV 8, Kanal 5 and Kanal 9) that - even though they are more or less exclusively directed towards Swedish viewers - broadcast under UK licences and are subject to UK jurisdiction. UK law permits the activities described above. The AVMS Directive is based...

On 15 December 2014, the United Kingdom media regulator Ofcom published two reports. One, entitled Public Sector Broadcast Annual Report 2014 (the First Report), reviewed the UK Public Sector Broadcasters (PSBs) performance since 2008. The remits of PSB channels, such as ITV and Channel 4, are defined under section 265 of the Communications Act 2003; part 2 of Schedule 12 of the 2003 Act is the relevant part for the Welsh Channel S4C and the public purpose of the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) is described in the BBC Charter, due for renewal in 2016. The second Report, entitled Public Service...