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 2013-1: The Digital Switchover
The European Commission's report on the telecommunications market and regulatory development (see also IRIS 2012-9/8) describes, among other things, the current status of the introduction of digital television in the EU member states. According to section 5.3.2 of the report, at the time of...
IRIS Special 2012: Converged Markets - Converged Power? Regulation and Case Law
Eleven years ago, the European Audiovisual Observatory published the IRIS Special entitled “Television and Media Concentration”. Back then it still seemed meaningful to restrict the publication to the regulation of traditional forms of concentration in the broadcasting sector and, to this end,...
La protection des mineurs dans le domaine des médias en République tchèque
[This text is only available in French] Le présent article aborde le thème de la protection des mineurs dans le domaine des médias en République tchèque en deux parties : la première partie concerne le domaine de la télédiffusion et des services de médias audiovisuels à la demande en y incluant...
IRIS Plus 2012-6: Protection of Minors and Audiovisual Content On-Demand
On-demand services with audiovisual content are continuing to be more and more popular among users. One of the world's best known platforms is no doubt YouTube, which, according to Matthew Glotzbach, the company's EMEA Managing Director, currently has 800 million users a month who upload 72 hours...
IRIS Plus 2012-5: Must-carry: Renaissance or Reformation?
On 11 July 2012, the Tribunale Amministrativo Regionale per il Lazio, an Italian administrative court in Rome decided on a case involving the Italian public service broadcaster RAI (TAR Lazio Decision n. 6320). It found RAI guilty of having violated its charter by encrypting its free-to-air TV...
Media and Protection of Minors in France - TV and Cinema
This article describes the French regulation on the protection of minors concerning cinematographic and other audiovisual productions.
The Protection of Children from Harmful Effects of Films in the United States
This article describes the regulation on the protection of minors concerning cinematographic and other audiovisual productions in the United States.
IRIS Plus 2012-4: Exclusive Rights and Short Reporting
2012 is often called a year of sports as both the Euro 2012 football championships and the Olympic Games will be held. Of course, there will be or have been world championships in other sports, such as the biathlon, ski flying, figure skating, indoor athletics, table tennis, windsurfing,...
IRIS Plus 2012-3: The Future of State Aid
As every year, May 2012 will see an edition of the Cannes Film Festival along with a new Golden Palm winner. Less in the news but more important for the industry will be the Cannes Film Market, which takes place in parallel. It will allow over 10,000 film industry professionals from over 100...
IRIS Plus 2012-2: The Lifespan for Copyright of Audiovisual Works
Intellectual property rights are one of the tools, if not the tool for rewarding and stimulating creativity. They are attached to many assets which form part of our cultural heritage but which cannot be tagged physically as personal property, as could be, for example, paintings or sculptures....