Regulatory structures
IRIS Themes - Vol. I - Freedom of Expression and the Media: Standard-setting by the Council of Europe (I) Committee of Ministers
This e-book provides valuable insights into the work of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on freedom of expression and the media. It summarises the many principles and normative requirements adopted by the Council since November 1994 in no less than 57 official documents...
IRIS Plus 2010-6: Switchover to the Digital Dividend
Like Siamese twins, the switchover to digital television is inseparable from the spectrum liberated as a result of the process. The twin of the switchover is called digital dividend. If we look closer at these twins, we realize that they are non-identical, as far as at least one important point...
IRIS Plus 2010-4: Public Service Media: Money for Content
There have been many public statements on the funding of public service broadcasting and the expectations associated with it. As far as the European Union is concerned, mention might be made of the Communication from the Commission of 27 October 2009 on the application of state aid rules to...
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 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 Special 2008 - Editorial Responsibility
Almost exactly twenty years after the adoption of the “Television without Frontiers” Directive, namely on 19 December 2009, the deadline for transposing the Audiovisual Media Service Directive (AVMSD) will expire. In other words, the national rules that so far served to facilitate cross-border...
IRIS Special 2007 - Legal Aspects of Video on Demand
Whenever a “new” audiovisual service becomes established, questions are inevitably asked about what legal norms govern it and whether those norms take sufficient account of all legitimate needs and interests. As far as video-on-demand (VoD) is concerned, it is clear that the “Television without...