Search results : 283

In January 2014, the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly adopted a resolution on the revision of the European Convention on Transfrontier Television (Resolution 1978 (2014)). The resolution noted that the Convention had been “the first international legal instrument ensuring unimpeded transmission of programmes regardless of frontiers”, but also noted that while the EU’s Audiovisual Media Services Directive had been amended in 2007, the Convention had not been revised since 2002 (see IRIS 1998-9/4). The Parliamentary Assembly’s 2014 resolution stated that it “deplores the fact” that the...

In a decision on 16 October, the Court of Appeal in Paris overturned the judgment of the Regional Court in Paris which had ordered Facebook France to reinstate a “non-official” page operated by fans of the popular TV series Plus Belle la Vie (“PBLV”), which had been blocked the previous year by its executive producer (see IRIS 2014-1/21). In the present case, the creator and moderator of “pblvmarseille”, a non-official Internet site devoted to the series launched the “PBLV Marseille” Facebook page in 2008. In 2012, she discovered that the producer of the series and owner of the “Plus Belle la Vie”...

The Nacionālā elektronisko plašsaziņas līdzekļu padome (National Electronic Mass Media Council), the national regulatory authority, has been recently exploring legal options for limiting retransmission of certain television broadcasts, which might be contrary to Latvian and EU law. Within the context of the Ukraine and Crimea crisis, the Council has received numerous complaints that several Russian language television channels contain broadcasts, which allegedly promote war and military conflict, as well as include incitement to hatred and destruction of the territorial unity of countries. Also,...

On 27 September 2013, Ofcom, the UK communications regulator, overturned two determinations by the Authority for Television On Demand (ATVOD) for editorial content. Ofcom oversees providers of on demand programmes via the internet, On Demand Programme Service (ODPS) providers. Ofcom works in conjunction with two co-regulators: the ATVOD and the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) for advertising content. ATVOD makes determinations, appealable to OFCOM, regarding what constitutes an ODPS; whether or not a person is providing an ODPS; what constitutes a programme included in an ODPS; and whether...

On 9 October 2013, the Gesetz gegen unseriöse Geschäftspraktiken (Act Against Dubious Business Practices), also known as the Anti-Abzock-Gesetz (Anti-Rip-Off Act), entered into force. It had been adopted by the Bundestag (lower house of parliament) on 27 June 2013 and the Bundesrat (upper house) on 20 September 2013 (doc. no. 638/13). The Act is designed to prevent the current practice of issuing mass cautions for copyright infringements, as well as dubious telephone transactions and debt collection methods. In future, paid subscriptions or competition entries concluded by telephone will only be...