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On 24 April 2013, the European Commission announced the adoption of a Green Paper on “Preparing for a Fully Converged Audiovisual World: Growth, Creation and Values”. The aim of the Green Paper is to foster public discussion on the implications of the on-going transformation of the audiovisual media landscape, which is characterised by a steady increase in the convergence of media services and the way in which these services are consumed and delivered. The Commission decided to initiate this discussion due to the fact that convergence will become gradually more tangible over the next decade and...

On 16 May 2013, Advocate General Kokott delivered her opinion in Case C-234/12, Sky Italia v. AGCom concerning the issue of whether Directive 2010/13/EU (the AVMS Directive) and EU primary law should be interpreted as precluding the Italian asymmetric hourly advertising limits for pay-tv operators. Under Italian law pay-tv broadcasters are subject to a 14% hourly limit, whereas free-to-air commercial broadcasters must comply with an 18% hourly limit. The referral to the ECJ originates in a dispute before the Latium Regional Administrative Court (TAR Lazio) in which Sky Italia impugned a decision...

The Grand Chamber of the European Court held, by nine votes to eight, that the UK’s ban on political advertising on television did not violate Article 10 of the Convention. The majority opinion in this controversial judgment reflects a somewhat particular approach compared to the Court’s previous case law on political advertising, such as in VgT Vereinigung gegen Tierfabriken v. Switzerland (see IRIS 2001-7/2 and IRIS 2009-10/2). Essentially the judgment in the case of Animal Defenders International v. UK accepts that a total ban on political advertising on television, characterized...

On 15 January 2013, the Council for Broadcasting and Retransmission of the Slovak Republic (“CBR”) imposed a fine of EUR 1,500 on the major commercial broadcaster for the failure to inform the public about the existence of product placement in its programme and for giving undue prominence to the product in question. The programme was a reality show taking place in a bar. Even though the bar was an operating business, it was built solely for the purpose of producing the reality show. The bar contained many products with commercial logos visible. Since this programme was under the exclusive editorial...

In accordance with Article 7.20 (1) of the Mediawet 2008 (Dutch Media Act), the Commissariaat voor de Media (Media Authority - CvdM) must report each year to the Minister of Education, Culture and Science on its intended enforcement policy. On 31 October 2012 the CvdM sent its enforcement letter 2013 to the Minister and made it public. In its letter to the Minister, the CvdM first emphasises the general principles in its enforcement strategy that are focused on stimulating the presence of a level playing field and effective and customised supervision measures for different media institutions. The...