Search results : 1127

On 27 January 2014 the Audiovisual Media Authority (AMA) approved the Broadcasting Code for audiovisual media operators. According to the regulator, the Code is meant “as a step to further complete the legal and sublegal framework for the monitoring and controlling of radio and television stations’ activity.” The Broadcasting Code further specifies the guiding principles regarding content of audiovisual media laid out in the Act on Audiovisual Media No. 97/2013 approved in March 2013 (see IRIS 2013-8/9). More specifically, the Code tackles in detail the guiding content-related principles for audiovisual...

The Comisión Nacional de los Mercados y la Competencia (national commission for markets and competition - CNMC) was created by Act No. 3/2013, which was adopted on 4 June 2013. The commission combines functions involving the smooth running of the markets and sectors which until now have been controlled by various authorities with responsibility for the sectors of energy, the telecoms market, competition, the railways, the postal sector, airports, and the audiovisual media. These attributions have earned it the nickname of "super-regulato"r (superregulador). The Council of the CNMC is its decision-making...

In a ruling of 19 September 2013 (case no. 7 B 12.2358), the Bayerische Verwaltungsgerichtshof (Bavarian Administrative Court - BayVGH) overturned a decision of the Bayerische Landeszentrale für Medien (Bavarian New Media Authority - BLM), prohibiting a media company from operating its (entire) erotic teletext service on pages 600-900 between the hours of 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. The ban had been imposed following an examination of the service by an inspection team appointed by the Kommission für Jugendmedienschutz (Commission for the protection of young people in the media - KJM). The inspection team,...

The Council of Europe Conference of Ministers responsible for Media and Information Society, entitled, ‘Freedom of Expression and Democracy in the Digital Age: Opportunities, Rights, Responsibilities’, was held on 7-8 November 2013 in Belgrade, Serbia. The previous ministerial conference on similar issues (‘A new notion of media?’) was held in Reykjavik in 2009 (see IRIS 2009-8/2). Participating ministers in the Conference adopted a Political Declaration and three Resolutions, entitled: 1. Internet Freedom 2. Preserving the essential role of media in the digital age 3. Safety of journalists The...

On 5 November 2013, the Romanian Senate (i.e. Upper Chamber of the Parliament) rejected the Draft Law on the modification and completion of the Audiovisual Law no. 504/2002 at the request of the President of Romania, with a large majority. The Draft Law included an obligation of the broadcasters to air weekly at least 120 minutes of programmes with cultural and educational content, excepting the period from 1 to 7 a.m. Furthermore, news channels would have had to air weekly at least 30 minutes of cultural and educational shows per week, excepting the same period (1 a.m to 7 a.m.). The decision...