Legal
The Department for Legal Information analyses key legal issues linked to the audiovisual sector and reports on major legal developments and ground breaking cases which affect media legislation in Europe.
IRIS Plus 2010-2: Digital Cinema
The European cinema of the near future will be digital. This much seems to be agreed upon by anyone who has a say in the matter. But the road there requires special efforts and may indeed be long and winding. This IRIS plus asks where we stand in the roll-out of digital cinema and it does so with...
IRIS Special 2010: The Regulatory Framework for Audiovisual Media Services in Russia
2009 saw a steady flow of information on the EU’s Audiovisual Media Services Directive and one does not need a crystal ball to predict the next wave of information that will spill over our desks in 2010, be it to tell us about transposition and implementation or about EU enforcement measures. The...
IRIS Plus 2010-1: Digital Television
Imagine turning on your television and not receiving any signal. For an increasing number of television viewers this could have been the case had they not re-equipped themselves for digital television. To mention only the early birds: Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Finland and Sweden completed the...
IRIS Plus 2009-6: The "Telecoms Review": New Impetus for Audiovisual Media?
This IRIS plus examines the review of the European telecommunications regulatory framework. The lead article is as multilayered as the theme itself. Market regulation, spectrum policy, new distribution methods, interoperability, network neutrality, investment protection, "must-carry" obligations,...
IRIS Plus 2009-5: SatCab Revisited: The Past, Present and Future of the Satellite and Cable Directive
In this article, Bernt Hugenholtz explores not only the history, goals and application of the Satellite and Cable Directive but also the question of how its future might look like.
IRIS Special 2009: Ready, Set … Go?
The Audiovisual Media Services Directive. If the transposition of the EC Directive were to be compared to a competition, it would be between the national legislatures to see which has produced the best domestic law. Many different yardsticks could be used to measure which law is the “best”, such...
IRIS Plus 2009-4: The Public Service Remit and the New Media
This IRIS plus discusses the involvement of public service broadcasting in the new media. The author examines to what extent and under what conditions the public service remit covers such an involvement and where the limits to legitimate state funding currently lie. She therefore goes in some...
IRIS Plus 2009-3: An Introduction to Music Rights for Film and Television Production
More often than one might expect, basic issues concerning music rights are unknown territory for producers of music works, film composers and musicians. Reading this IRIS plus is a first step towards understanding the complex legal matter.
IRIS Special 2009: Creativity Comes at a Price
The signatories to the European Social Charter underline in its Preamble the fact that the standard of living and the social-well being of their populations are key to safeguarding human rights. In all likelihood they were similarly aware of how central this is for the prospering of their markets.
IRIS Plus 2009-2: Filtering the Internet for Copyrighted Content in Europe
One issue that has been frequently discussed in the IRIS plus series is the unauthorised supply of copyright protected works via the Internet. The resulting threat of copyright infringements could, at least partly, be prevented through the use of Internet filters, an option that forms the subject...