IRIS newsletter 2025-10

 

Publisher:

 

European Audiovisual Observatory
76, allée de la Robertsau
F-67000 STRASBOURG

Tel. : +33 (0) 3 90 21 60 00
E-mail: obs@obs.coe.int
www.obs.coe.int

Comments and Suggestions to: iris@obs.coe.int

Executive Director: Pauline Durand-Vialle

Maja Cappello, Editor • Amélie Lacourt, Justine Radel, Sophie Valais, Diego de la Vega, Deputy Editors (European Audiovisual Observatory)

Documentation/Press Contact: Alison Hindhaugh

Tel.: +33 (0)3 90 21 60 10

E-mail: alison.hindhaugh@coe.int

Proofreading of machine translations:

Aurélie Courtinat • Paul Green • Udo Lücke • Marco Polo Sarl • Erwin Rohwer • Sonja Schmidt • Nathalie Sturlèse • Ulrike Welsch

Proofreading of original texts:

Amélie Lacourt, Alexandra Ross and Diego de la Vega • Linda Byrne • David Windsor • Aurélie Courtinat •  Barbara Grokenberger  

Web Design:

Coordination: Cyril Chaboisseau, European Audiovisual Observatory


ISSN 2078-6158

© 2025 European Audiovisual Observatory, Strasbourg (France)

To promote inclusive language, we follow the guidelines of the Council of Europe.

 

Editorial

"Create relevance, not awareness" is supposedly a quote from the late Steve Jobs. In today's multiplatform world, where success is measured by the number of clicks, information providers may actually be tempted to invert the dictum and privilege glitter over substance. This, dear reader, will never be the case for us. At the Observatory we are deeply committed to our mission of improving "the transfer of information within the audiovisual industry, to promote a clearer view of the market and a greater transparency." And for us, staying relevant means selecting the right topics, producing detailed reports on them, and using our legal newsletter as a useful update tool.

Consider the issue of AI, for example. Recognising the increasing significance of this revolutionary technological development, the Observatory has published two reports on AI in recent years (see here and here), and now you can read our articles about Munich’s regional court ruling in favour of GEMA against OpenAI in a copyright infringement case involving the memorisation of song lyrics by AI; the UK High Court's ruling in the Getty Images (US) Inc. and Others v. Stability AI Ltd case; and the enactment of a new Italian AI law, which establishes a human authorship requirement for copyright protection and criminalises the dissemination of deepfakes.

Another example: many of our reports focus on the risks posed by online technologies for minors and the public at large. One such report is our AVMSDigest: Safe screens: protecting minors online. In the present newsletter you can also read about the recent decision of the Irish media regulator regarding terrorist content on WhatsApp and Pinterest, and the Dutch Media Authority’s launch of a new hotline to enable children to report undisclosed advertisements on social media.

Also, if you enjoyed our latest report on the status of artists, you might also be interested in reading about a recent update about France’s interprofessional agreement between film producers and author-screenwriters.

And since we are talking about the relevance of information providers, our dear readership will get an in-depth report on the news sector next month as a Christmas present.

Enjoy the read(s)!

Maja Cappello, Editor

European Audiovisual Observatory

International

COUNCIL OF EUROPE

On 26 November, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe adopted the final text of the Convention on the Co-Production of Audiovisual Works in the Form of Series. Series have become a dominant format in the global offer of audiovisual works and are frequently made by partners from different countries. Building on the success of the framework for film coproduction established by the Council of Europe’s Convention on Cinematographic Co-production, the new Convention introduces a distinct set of rules tailored for series, providing producers cooperating across borders with a framework...

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EUROPEAN UNION

On Friday 24 October, the European Commission took the preliminary view that the two social networking giants Meta and TikTok had failed to meet their transparency obligations under the Digital Services Act (DSA). Under this law, these platforms are obliged to guarantee researchers adequate access to their internal data. However, the European institution found that Meta and TikTok did not provide sufficient access to their data, preventing researchers from properly studying their platforms. Adequate access is important because it enables researchers to measure the potential impact of these platforms...

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Three months after the EU concluded a trade agreement with the United States, on 23 October 2025, the European Parliament adopted a resolution calling for the rejection of any attempt to consider the Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMSD) to be a distortion of trade. This followed criticism of EU audiovisual legislation by the US administration, who labeled it as a trade barrier. Previously, President Donald Trump had also threatened to impose a 100% tariff on films produced outside the US. In a memorandum published on 21 February 2025 and entitled "Defending American Companies and...

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NATIONAL

A new funding instrument was launched in Germany in October 2025. The “Liebling Kino” programme will award financial incentives to cinemas that give special prominence to German, European and artistically ambitious films as part of a high-quality programme. Although the funding is only meant to pay for cinema operations, a points system should ultimately benefit the entire funding chain, from production to distribution, by creating appropriate incentives. Applications should be possible from November 2025. The new grants will be awarded by the Federal Government Commissioner for...

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On 22 October 2025, the Rundfunkkommission (Broadcasting Commission) of the federal states adopted key points for a reform of the Medienstaatsvertrag (state media treaty – MStV), the aim of which is to safeguard the communication-related foundations of a free and democratic society in Germany. The new Digitale Medien-Staatsvertrag (digital media state treaty – DMStV) focuses on strengthening content providers and refinancing of journalistic offerings, guaranteeing free communication spaces, organising effective supervision, enabling economic growth and safeguarding diversity of opinion. The...

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In its ruling of 15 October 2025, the Bundesverwaltungsgericht (Federal Administrative Court – BVerwG) once again had to rule on a case concerning the payment of the broadcasting fee that is used to finance public broadcasters in Germany. It concluded that the levying of the fee is only incompatible with the Grundgesetz (Basic Law) if the overall programme offering of the public broadcasters grossly fails to meet the requirements for diverse and balanced content and opinion over a prolonged period of time. However, since it is the task of the lower courts to examine this, the action was referred...

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In its judgement of 11 November 2025 (case no. 42 O 14139/24), the Landgericht München I (Munich Regional Court I – LG) ruled that the memorisation of linguistic works in AI language models, both when they were processed in the model and when they were delivered to the user in response to a corresponding prompt, constituted an act of reproduction within the meaning of copyright law. Although reproduction during the creation of training data material fell under the limitation of text and data mining, this did not apply to the process of training the model itself. As a consequence, the...

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On 15 September 2025, the Danish Ministry of Culture published a report from the Expert Group on Copyright and Artificial Intelligence (AI). The report contains several recommendations aimed at addressing the challenges posed by AI in relation to copyright. The report includes recommendations to improve transparency and control over training data, to strengthen the framework of conditions for collective licensing, and introduce technical measures to prevent the illegal use of copyright-protected content. In addition, it proposes an investigation into measures to promote the use of human-generated...

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The third annual report from the Spain Audiovisual Hub, published in October 2025, provides a comprehensive overview of the legal frameworks shaping Spain’s audiovisual industry. The Spain Audiovisual Hub is a strategic initiative launched by the Spanish Government in 2021 as part of the national Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan. Its objective is to position Spain as a leading European centre for audiovisual production, distribution and innovation. As part of its mandate, the Hub publishes an annual report to track the sector’s evolution, assess the impact of public policies...

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The National Commission on Markets and Competition (CNMC), the body that acts in Spain as the audiovisual authority and, therefore, oversees compliance with Law No. 13/2022 of 7 July 2022, the General Law on Audiovisual Communication (LGCA), has imposed two fines on NBC Universal Global Networks España S.L.U. (NBCU), amounting to a total of €4 516. The reason for those sanctions was the broadcasting of audiovisual commercial communications that exceeded the time limits set out in Article 137.1 (a) and (b) of the LGCA. The sanctioning procedure began following a request submitted...

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Europe 1 is seeking annulment on the grounds of ultra vires of Decision No. 2024-582 of 27 June 2024 by which the Autorité de Régulation de la Communication Audiovisuelle et Numérique (Arcom) gave it formal notice to comply, in future, with the provisions of 4° of I.1 of Article 2 of the decision of 4 January 2011 on the principle of political pluralism in radio and television services during election periods, which states: "Reports, commentaries and presentations to which elections give rise must be presented with a constant concern for moderation and honesty. Publishers...

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An interprofessional agreement on contractual practices between "auteurs-scénaristes" (authors-screenwriters) and producers of feature-length fiction films, extended by order of the Minister of Culture to the entire profession, was signed on 15 October at the CNC (Centre National du cinéma et de l'image animée) by all the organisations representing film producers (Association des producteurs indépendants – API, Syndicat des producteurs indépendants – SPI and Union des producteurs de cinéma – UPC) and, for authors, by Scénaristes...

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The Centre national du cinéma et de l'image animée (National Centre for Cinema and the Moving Image – CNC) entrusted Michel Gomez, former general delegate of the Mission Cinéma of the City of Paris, with the task of evaluating the conditions for the conservation, exploitation and promotion of France’s audiovisual heritage. His report reveals a paradox: an abundant audiovisual offering but relatively limited public access to works over 20 years old. The main obstacles identified are economic (narrow marketplace), technical (obsolete media, costly digitisation)...

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Ofcom determined that an episode of BBC’s, a public service broadcaster, current affairs series Panorama, entitled "Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone" and produced by the independent production company HOYO Films (HOYO), was misleading and breached Rule 2.2 of the Broadcasting Code. This was due to the fact that the father of the 13 year old narratorheld a significant position in the Hamas administration. The Programme was broadcast on terrestrial TV on 17 February 2025 and made available on the BBC’s streaming service, BBC iPlayer, on 17 and 18 February...

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On 4 November 2025, the UK’s first court decision concerning generative AI and copyright was made in the High Court’s judgment on Getty Images (US) Inc. and others v. Stability Al Ltd  (the judgment). The judgement provides guidance on the meaning of "article" and "infringing copy" for the purposes of secondary copyright infringement, recognising that an "article" can be intangible. The judgment concerns an AI image generation model, Stable Diffusion, developed and marketed by the AI company Stability AI (the Defendant). Several claimants...

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The United Kingdom’s communications regulator, Ofcom, issued new guidance which took effect on 20 October 2025, clarifying how long-standing duties of due accuracy and due impartiality apply when politicians front programmes that include news. In a media environment where formats increasingly blend and news inserts appear within magazine or rolling discussion programmes, the regulator is drawing clearer lines to protect audiences while preserving freedom of expression. Background The legal background to this development is a High Court judgment earlier in 2025, R (on the application...

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On 11 and 16 October 2025, Comisiún na Meán (the Commission), the Irish media regulator, made decisions determining that WhatsApp Ireland Ltd. (in respect of the service Channels) and Pinterest Europe Ltd. are "exposed to terrorist content". The Commission is the Irish competent national authority under Regulation (EU) 2021/784 on addressing the dissemination of terrorist content online (the Terrorist Content Online Regulation). In this role, it is responsible for overseeing the implementation of specific measures required to be taken under Article 5 of the Terrorist...

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On 23 September 2025, Italy enacted a new law designed to facilitate the application of the AI Act. The law promotes correct, transparent and responsible AI use whilst guaranteeing oversight of risks and impact on fundamental rights. Within the broader framework of this law, a few copyright-related provisions merit particular attention.  The most significant intellectual property provision appears in Article 25, which amends the Italian Copyright Law to insert the word “human” into the phrase “works of intellect”, and to specify that works...

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At its meeting on 13 November 2025, the national media regulator of Moldova, the Audiovisual Council (CA), decided to impose a fine of 5 000 Moldavan leu (about €250) on the national public TV station Moldova-1, for violating the rights of minors. Violations were found, following investigation of the complaint by a private citizen, in the story broadcast as part of the 9 p.m. news bulletin Mesager (Messenger), on 19 September 2025. The story reported on the lack of teachers at kindergartens in Chisinau. Violations were confirmed in video sequences filmed inside a particular kindergarten...

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On 4 November 2025, the Commissariaat voor de Media (Dutch Media Authority) introduced a special hotline for children (De Klachtenknop), allowing them to submit an anonymous tip if they believe that an influencer has uploaded sponsored content without labelling it as such. The initiative was launched on the occasion of the national Media Literacy Week, which took place from 7 to 14 November 2025. The Media Authority monitors the compliance of audiovisual media service providers with the Media Act 2008. Under Article 3a.5 of the act, all audiovisual commercial communications on a video platform...

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On 1 September 2025, members of the Co-regulatory body for audiovisual media services signed the first Broadcasting Code (hereafter: the Code) created by this body. The Code sets out rules on the broadcasting of content by linear services on memorial days. The document is the first to have been created on the basis of the law "On Media", which regulates the work of the media on memorial days. Ten out of twelve members of the co-regulatory body have signed the Code, which entered into force on 1 September. Since then, all linear audiovisual media services in Ukraine (television channels)...

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