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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...

A bill sent to the House of Representatives by the government proposes extensive amendments to the Law on Radio and Television Organisations that regulates commercial services of broadcasters. The bill was long expected in order to adjust the Act to aspects of the new media - i.e. a fully digital environment - and to further harmonise the Act with the Audiovisual Media Services Directive 2010/13/EU (AVMSD). According to the Explanatory Memorandum attached to the proposal, better harmonisation with the AVMSD is sought, in particular with relation to Articles 2(4), 4(8), 5(1)(d), 6, 9(1)(f), 10(1),...

Along with amendment proposals for commercial radio television organisations (see IRIS 2013-10/13), another draft law is aimed at harmonising the Law regulating the public service broadcaster Ραδιοφωνικό Iδρυμα Κύπρου (RIK - Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation) with the provisions of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive (2010/13/EU). In addition to the audiovisual media services of RIK, the amendments also concern radio regulation. The amendments regulate the following - Categories of goods and services, for which television advertising is prohibited during specific timeframes. - Rules about the...

On 27 August 2013, Ofcom found the long-running soap on UK TV, Hollyoaks, which is broadcast on Channel 4 each weekday evening, in breach of its Code. The cast contains characters who are mainly between 16 and 35 years old and the principal target audience is teenagers and young adults. There was a complaint from one viewer about one scene. It depicted one of the main characters being killed, having been being pushed into the path of a fast train. The concern was raised that this scene was unsuitable for viewing before the watershed, in particular because it would have been expected to have been...

In 2010, the commission for the classification of cinematographic works proposed banning under-16-year-olds from watching the film Saw 3D Chapitre Final, the final chapter in a series of successful horror films, with the warning that the film “includes a large number of particularly realistic torture scenes and a high level of brutality, indeed even savagery”. Following this proposition, and in application of Article 3 of the Decree of 23 February 1990, the Minister for Culture and Communication granted the film a screening certificate on condition that it was not to be shown to anyone under the...