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The European Commission has closed its procedure in accordance with Article 2a of the TVWF Directive involving the Romanian and the Hungarian media authorities and a television broadcaster called Cool Tv. Cool Tv is a television channel operating under Romanian jurisdiction but broadcasting in the Hungarian language for primarily Hungarian audiences. In recent years the Országos Rádió és Televízió Testület (Hungarian National Radio and Television Commission - ORTT) has received several complaints from viewers regarding one particular programme of the broadcaster entitled “Cool Sex”. The programme,...

On 21 April 2008, the Council of Electronic Media passed a rulebook on television broadcasting regarding the legal protection of minors. This was carried out on the basis of Article 15, paragraph 5, of the Law on Electronic Media. This rulebook contains regulations that television broadcasters have to obey when broadcasting programmes, the contents of which could pose a threat to the physical, mental and moral upbringing of minors and which are broadcast in un-encoded form. This implies inter alia all types of programmes containing extreme violence, sex scenes, vulgar expressions, and those showing...

On 21 May 2008, The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) launched a new service, “BBFC.online”. It aims to provide consumer information, thus enhancing consumer trust and confidence when choosing new media content. The scheme applies, on a voluntary basis, the BBFC’s existing eight-fold classification system to content distributed online, including “video on demand, streaming video, download-to-own and portable media devices.” It is “‘Platform Neutral’ – it is designed to cover all forms of digital content delivery (e.g. web, set top boxes, hand-held devices and mobile phones).” The BBFC...

On 8 May 2008, the German Bundestag (Parliament) adopted the Government's draft first amendment of the Jugendschutzgesetz (Act on the Protection of Minors), thanks to the votes of the Government parties. The amendment contains three main aspects: firstly, the list of media products harmful to minors, which are indexed under law, is extended where the portrayal of violence is concerned. Whereas previously minors were only banned by law from buying computer games that "glorify" violence or war, in future the same will apply to those in which "realistic, gruesome and sensationalised portrayals of...

On 22 April 2008, the European Commission issued a Communication on the protection of consumers, in particular of minors, in respect of the use of video games. The Communication was adopted in response to the booming prospects of the European gaming market, which, in the words of Commissioner Reding, is “welcome, but implies greater responsibility for the industry”. The European video games market is the fastest growing and most dynamic sector of the European content industry, with an expected revenue of EUR 7.3 billion by the end of 2008. This growth is in part due to a rapid expansion to older...