In Media Rules and Rulers

Turkey takes a small, painful step - April 30, 2008

Breaking the rules for children’s TV is a good idea - March 24, 2008

Law Sparks Ownership Changes - March 1, 2008
Swiss Federal Council granted public broadcaster SSR-SRG idée suisse a new concession. SSR-SRG operates 18 terrestrial radio channels in the four Swiss linguistic regions. It is the country’s largest broadcasting organization, employing about 5,800 persons, with an annual budget of about CHF 1.5 billion (€950 million).

WRC07 Revises Band Allocations - March 1, 2008
The month long diplomatic conference on world-wide telecommunications gave broadcasters a respite in the war with mobile telephone operators over scarce and valuable spectrum. The World Radiocommunication Conference 2007 (WRC07) was held in Geneva, Switzerland under the auspices of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU). Nearly 3000 delegates from 160 countries debated proposals on virtually every spot on the spectrum.

Broadcasters pounce on ‘mobile myth’ and ‘digital dividend’ - February 27, 2008
Markets may fail, says a report commissioned by broadcasters groups, if TV spectrum continues to be sold-off to the highest bidders. Broadcasters providing ‘ public value’ are at a disadvantage against rich telecoms selling the ‘mobile myth,’ it says.

European Telecoms, Still Arguing With The Likes Of Google And Yahoo That Don’t Want To Share Their Mobile Search Pie, Now Have To Fight The EU That Wants Big Decreases In Cross-Border Text Charges - February 20, 2008

The message that telecoms and vendors wanted people to take home from the Mobile World Congress last week was that it won’t be too long before every shirt pocket or purse will soon by carrying a very smart phone. But along came EU Telecoms Commissioner Mrs. Viviane Reding on the first day and spoiled the party by telling EU telecoms that they need to greatly reduce international text roaming charges by July 1, or she’ll do it for them.

Why Do British Prime Ministers Insist On Keeping Their Meetings And Discussions With Rupert Murdoch Private? - February 8, 2008

One would think that a British prime minister is the most powerful person in the UK, but with Gordon Brown and Tony Blair both having tried hard to keep their Rupert Murdoch relationships secret there is the perception that if Murdoch is not the most powerful person in the UK, then certainly he is the most feared.

Another government charged with broadcasting rules violations - February 4, 2008

Governments love public broadcasters that dutifully toe the line. The reward is ample financing and legal structures sufficiently opaque to hold off private sector competition. Some might call this synergy.

Slovak legislators hold EU Treaty hostage over media law - January 31, 2008

Center-right political parties are threatening to block Slovak ratification of the EU reform treaty unless Prime Minister Robert Fico withdraws a controversial draft media law. Since taking power in 2006 PM Fico has engaged in a war over media and press reforms. He has consistently criticized the existence of any press criticism.

UK Government To Spend £75 Million On Advertising How To Lead A Healthy Life, But Still Allows Some Junk Food Advertising Before 9 p.m., Protecting The £211 Million That A Ban Would Cost TV Companies - January 24, 2008
Here are the UK government’s priorities when it comes to valuing child health: it’s worth taxpayers paying £372 million ($740 million, €495 million) for a vigorous multi-faceted program to combat obesity that includes a £75 million ($150 million, €100 million) advertising campaign aimed at adults to vigorously promote healthy eating and exercise lifestyles. But, for now at least, it’s not worth getting more bang for that taxpayer spend by endangering the £211 million that TV companies would lose if all junk food advertising were banned before 9 p.m.

Another shot across the bow of public broadcasting as the EC opens inquiry - January 14, 2008
Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes wants to ask some questions. A day after French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced his intention to radically change the way French public broadcasting is funded, the European Commission fires its own shot over that bow.

FCC Approves Cross Ownership Waivers, But A Dissenting Opinion Is A Zinger! - December 20, 2007
Along party lines the Federal Communications Commission has approved, as Chairman Kevin J. Martin proposed new rules for cross ownership of broadcast stations and newspapers in the same city, citing the need to strengthen the newspaper industry. It was something the Republicans and big business wanted, and something the Democrats oppose so vehemently that there is talk of trying now to get Congress to overrule the FCC

EC strikes Italy for TV ads - December 12, 2007

After years of turning a blind eye toward Italian flaunting of television ad rules, the European Commission has cast its’ steely grey gaze. While Silvio Berlusconi commanded both public and private TV the attitude was, er, nuanced.

Dmitry Medvedev – digital guy - December 10, 2007
Surprise! Surprise! Russian President Vladmir Putin’s endorsement of Gazprom Chairman and all-around Kremlin handy-man Dmitry Medvedev as the next Russian president sent the wires chirping. Medvedev has been on the short list of potential successors for several months. Last January he appeared at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, wowed the crowd and sent Russia watchers twittering.

UK Judges Rule No Blasphemy In The BBC’s Broadcast Of The Jerry Springer Rock Musical - December 6, 2007
A major ruling by two UK High Court Judges says that blasphemy laws do not apply to broadcasts or the theater. The ruling defeats an attempt by a Christian group for the courts to find that the BBC committed blasphemy in airing the Jerry Springer rock musical in 2005 that contained more than 200 swear words, and depicted God, Jesus (wearing a diaper), Mary, Adam and Eve and The Devil on a special Jerry Springer talk show set in hell.

Your television will go black…and other scary stories - November 15, 2007

It’s the week to watch if you’re in Geneva or Brussels. Television, they say, is sure to suffer if nameless, faceless Eurocrats and functionaires have their way. Why can’t things be like the old days?

Microsoft decamps Brussels, tail between legs: NOT! - October 29, 2007
Europe’s long war with Microsoft is drawing to a close. Weapons (legal) have fallen silent. Apologies made. Injured removed. And, of course, reparations paid.

EU Clears SonyBMG For A Second Time - October 4, 2007
The European Commission for the second time has approved the Sony BMG (Bertelsmann) recorded music joint venture. The merger had been approved in 2004, but the EU’s Court of First Instance blew it out of the water two years later, accepting an appeal by Impala, an independent record group label representing 2500 independent music companies, that claimed the merger was not studied closely enough for monopoly issues. With that court decision, t the Commission undertook another investigation which has taken a year to complete.

British Regulator Rips GMTV With £2 Million Fine For Cheating The Public And Over At The BBC Heads Are Rolling Because of The Violations of the Public’s Trust - September 27, 2007
Friday marks Paul Corley’s final day as Managing Director of GMTV, a position he resigned a month ago over the furor of deceptive premium-rate phone contests for which he and his controller of enterprises fell on their swords. And the Ofcom (office of communications) regulator is seeing him off with a big bang – a £2 million ($4 million, €2.86 million) fine for the early morning UK national commercial network owned 75% by ITV and 25% by Disney.

Was ist das? German courts examine anti-trust agency decision against Axel Springer - September 26, 2007
A year ago last January the German anti-trust office (Bundeskartellamt) seemed rather pleased with itself when it deemed Axel Springer’s bid for ProSiebenSat “unacceptable under competition law.” As the world knows, Axel Springer’s CEO Matthias Doepfner wasn’t pleased but they fought the good fight and moved on…to court. The German Federal Court of Justice (September 25) overruled a district court decision vacating Axel Springer’s complaint against the anti-trust office.

Apple’s big meeting with the Commission cut short - September 20, 2007
Lawyers for Apple met with the European Commission’s Competition Directorate to explain pricing. Most MBA’s spend their entire careers trying to figure out European pricing, between the laws and the cartels. A significant part of music industry – one of the most powerful cartels – decided not to attend. The two day hearings were cut to one.

The rising star of the competition czar - September 19, 2007

The European Commission and European national regulators celebrated Monday’s court ruling against Microsoft. Big companies with legions of lawyers have met their match. EC Competition Commissioner Neeley Kroes squashed Microsoft like a bug.
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Music industry suffers in court - August 20, 2007
As one of the most powerful segments of the content business, the music industry does not hesitate taking court action when it feels slighted. Nothing raises its ire more than downloading and file-sharing. And typical of industries in decline – or serious need of restructuring – its legal battles tend to be business negotiations by other means.

News radio stations targeted by media law - August 6, 2007
Private sector broadcasters venturing into news content often find themselves targets. Most prefer programming lots of music without any talk bordering on the controversial to avoid government wrath. The new Greek media law provides yet another example of State control.

Smoking To Go Up In Smoke In Disney Films - July 27, 2007
Healthy living is the new standard by which many companies are judged these days, so the Walt Disney Company is banning smoking scenes from its movies from now on. That coincides with an announcement in May by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) that when it rates new movies it’s going to judge whether smoking is too pervasive, just as it judges drug use, nudity, violence, and profanity.

UK Television Apparently Has Swindled Viewers Out of Millions And Millions of Pounds Via Crooked High-Cost Telephone Voting Schemes – Aren’t People Supposed To Be Thrown In Jail For That Much Larceny? - July 27, 2007
The UK television telephone voting scandal has reached such proportions that even the prime minister had to address the issue in Parliament and say the industry needs to clean up its act, fast. And the first head on the bloc was the managing director of GMTV, the national breakfast time commercial franchise, that now admits that viewers had spent £35 million ($70 million, €51 million) on competitions over four years in which they had absolutely no chance to win.

Ah, competition rules Hungarian airwaves - July 21, 2007
When a country signs up for EU membership it accepts the rules of the club. Hungary – and others in the EU 2004/2006 class – had a hard time accepting that Brussels takes this acquis communautaire seriously. The reality check was the summons to appear before the European Court of Justice (ECJ).

Spots are spots, Spain or not, says European Commission - July 12, 2007
A strong letter went out to Spain this week from the European Commission. In effect it said, don’t parse definitions; TV ads are TV ads and you are airing too many.

WIPO Broadcasting Treaty Dead…For Now - June 23, 2007

Major treaties, internationally binding, are consecrated every so often, typically years in the making. In this digital age, that’s a problem. WIPO’s Broadcasting Treaty might be dead, for now, but it remains a problem looking for a place to happen.

TV Plays the Reality Card - June 3, 2007
Reality TV critics have predicted the genre’s demise every year for the past ten or so. True: it’s a mature concept and viewers have a seemingly insatiable desire for more edgy and competitive programming. The Big Donor Show (De Grote Donorshow) turned reality on its head…or another body part.

If You’re A Swiss Commercial English Language Radio Station With Advertising Inventory Sold Out To November, Why Switch To A Public Broadcast License, Dumping The Advertising So The Taxpayers Pay? - May 30, 2007
The 10-year history of English language radio station WRG-FM in Geneva, Switzerland is fascinating for the major players that have had their fingers in that pie and for plans by public broadcaster Radio Suisse Romande (RSR), an equal shareholder with BBC World Service, to get the station’s license switched from commercial to public broadcasting, and then dump the advertising.

Radio Suisse Romande and WRG FM Officials Respond - May 30, 2007

Broadcasters Network for Solutions - May 29, 2007

Networking is the essence of Brussels. As the seat of the European Commission (EC) and home to hundreds of non-governmental organizations (NGO) and associations seeking to impact European and world-wide policies, Brussels is seen as the place to debate.

Mobile TV - Slow Finding Customers – Gets Subsidies - May 14, 2007
Ask any media crystal gazer to name the next big thing and there is one, resounding answer: Mobile TV. People viewing something on that mobile phone’s tiny screen is the center-piece of new media thinking, or dreaming, or wishing, or hoping. Sadly, though, people are just not clamoring to help cellcos (mobile telephone providers) increase those billable seconds. The solution, of course, is government subsidies.

Movie Ratings To Take Smoking Into Account - May 14, 2007
Remember that classic scene in Now Voyager (1942) where Paul Henreid lights two cigarettes in his mouth and then gives one to lover Bette Davis? Made screen history. Well, times are changing and the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) says that when it rates its movies from now on it’s going to judge whether smoking is too pervasive, just as it judges drug use, nudity, violence, and profanity.

US Media Blasts FCC’s Recommendations On Regulating TV Violence - May 10, 2007
TV bigwigs meeting at the Cable Show in Las Vegas this week had one topic on which they all seemed to agree – the Federal Communications Commission should keep its nose out of trying to regulate how much violence appears on US television.

Google And The Belgian Newspapers Start To Make Peace - May 6, 2007
There’s a slight thaw in the relationship between Google and French language newspapers printed in Belgium. Copiepresse, the publishing group representing the newspapers, and Google have agreed a system for Google to link the newspapers’ web sites and those newspaper sites are thus accessible again on Google.

The License Fee Lives. Long Live the License Fee - April 27, 2007
Europe’s public broadcasters breathed a sigh of relief this week as the final challenge to the radio and TV license fee has, possibly, been closed. European Commission Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes ended an investigation into German public broadcasters ARD and ZDF and the use of public money. Commissioner Kroes accepted the German governments plan to revise PBS finance rules.

US Television Has Always Been Blamed For Excessive Violence That It Perpetuates Around the World, But Now The Feds Are In With Proposals To Regulate What The Industry Has Failed To Do - April 27, 2007

Peering Into Rule Makers Mirror On The Wall Media Industries See Ugly, Step-Sisters - March 23, 2007

Media industry groups are up in arms over the encroaching future. It’s bad enough that media consumers have been enticed by every digital evil. Now – horror of horrors – the rule makers won’t stop reality.

Further Complicated: Advertising, Children and Television - March 10, 2007

Another Bill Collector Pounds At the Internet Door - March 7, 2007
Media’s growth engine is the World Wide Web. Not a month goes by without another fact-filled report citing evidence that consumers really like accessing media content through the internet. Not a nano-second goes by without another industry that once made lots of money through traditional media attempting a new extortion on the internet.

It Wasn’t A Complete Loss For Google In Its Dismal Belgian Copyright Case – The Court Agreed It Can Index Material Without Explicit Permission, But Must Remove It Within 24 Hours If Asked - February 14, 2007
The win for Google: A Belgian court basically reaffirmed what Google says it does anyway and ruled that if copyright holders ask for their material to be removed from Google News then it be gone within 24 hours or face a €1,000 daily fine. Google says its policy anyway is to remove material when asked (but not necessarily within 24 hours) so now it has a legal timeframe and it knows the penalty for late compliance.

Flying Through Turbulence – Media in the New EU Member States - February 13, 2007
Official Europe – the European Union – is now 484 million souls, 4 million square kilometers and 27 Member States. The most recent European enlargement, adding 12 new Members since 2004, did little to quell the turbulence already apparent in those countries. The media sector in the new Member States, in its unique status as both monitor and reflector, has been particularly hard hit, blown completely off courses set decades before.

At Least One Thing Seems To Unite European And American Lawmakers When It Comes To Television –Those Unhealthy Food Ads Targeted At Kids Need Restrictions, But Voluntary or Legislation? - February 12, 2007
On both sides of the Atlantic the campaign is gaining steam – obesity is a major problem, it’s continually getting worse in children at ever younger ages and one big villain is television. And although some food producers have voluntarily cut back targeting ads at the under 12s, and some government agencies have proposed what they see as tough advertising restrictions, the verbiage from some lawmakers and lobby groups is that it’s not enough.

More Media Reality From Commissioner Reding - January 18, 2007
The long and winding road to set a grand unified European media policy reaches a crossroads, now and again. The journey is fascinating, perhaps more than the destination. Each crossroad, though, becomes a defining moment for the multitude of media stakeholders.

More FM Radio Allocations and Licenses in Europe - January 3, 2007
It’s an easy impression to make. Digital broadcasting roars ahead while FM radio creeps toward extinction. It’s a perception that’s not quite reality.

Critics Split Over “American” TV Rules - December 18, 2006

American television – its style and language – strikes Europe’s culture protectors with horror. Ads, ads more often, ads for fast food, ads for SUVs – the narrative bleeds together. Ads on television are in and of themselves corrupting in countries where ad spending is still highest in dead-wood media.

EuroParl TV Rules Vote Changes Direction - December 14, 2006
Europe-wide television and advertising rules will take a decidedly liberal turn as members of the European Parliament voted (Wednesday December 13) to overhaul of the Television Without Frontiers Directive.

It’s Payback Time As The New Italian Government Tries To Cut Away At The Meat of Silvio Berlusconi’s Mediaset TV Empire Via A Proposed Bill That Mediaset’s Chairman Says Will Cause “Devastating Damage” - November 30, 2006

UK Commercial Cable and Terrestrial Networks Say Outlook For Kids TV Programming Bleak As British Regulator Proposes Junk Food Ad Ban In Move That Will Cost Millions In Lost Revenue - November 20, 2006
Obesity is considered the number one growth disease in Europe, and it is getting worse the most in the under 16s. Could all those junk foods high in fat, salt and sugar that are heavily advertised in TV programs aimed at the under 16s be a contributing cause? The UK TV regulator thinks so, and has shocked commercial broadcasters by wanting to ban such ads aimed at kids starting in January.

Political Shift to Impact American Broadcasting - November 13, 2006
As the political wind changes in Washington DC so might the domestic “industry” and US government international broadcasting. Further de-regulation, in particular cross-media ownership, will grind to a halt. US media analysts, largely of the Wall Street variety, see an ominous shift away from the staunchly partisan, pro-big business US Congress.

Sparks Fly At The UN’s Internet Governance Forum As Speakers Damn US Companies For Helping China Restrict Internet Usage. But How Could That Be -- The Chinese Representative Said There Are No Internet Restrictions! - November 11, 2006
It was supposed to be a three-hour debate about Internet freedom of expression, but it quickly turned into another bash of US companies for enabling China to impose Internet usage restrictions, but it fell to the Chinese representative to defend the Americans the best -- there are no Internet usage restrictions in China, so what’s all the fuss about?

Mix Culture and Economics, Then Half-Bake - October 12, 2006
The bomb shell that was DG Info Commissioner Reding’s first draft revising of the parchment era Television Without Frontiers directive a year ago still spews its’ sparks. European media rules, it seemed, will be platform neutral. The sub-text, of course, was to bring on-line media in line with all the broad EU level rules, enforced or not, that make European media the unique creature it is.

“If you were a revolutionary, which TV would you seize?”
Regrettable but true, protesters in the Hungarian capital Budapest continued violence through the week, specifically targeting media outlets.

A Belgian Court Pokes A Giant Hole In Google News’ Payment-Free Business Model And Orders, Without Hearing From Google, That It Eliminate All Links To Belgian Newspapers Or Pay a €1 Million Daily Fine
To hear Google tell it, the search engine didn’t know that a Belgian court was even considering a case that found favorably for the Belgian newspaper industry, with a ruling that could possibly stand as a precedent to thwart the current Google News way of doing business in Europe.

WIPO Moves Fast on Broadcast Treaty. Webcasters Tremble !
Time being relative, the United Nations organization watching intellectual property law is moving at blinding speed. In the blink of the galactic eye broadcasters will likely have a new set of worldwide rights…and governments will have new controls on the internet.

The real “F” Words in US Television Programming Today Are Fear And FCC
It all seems too silly to be true – that in the land of free speech, television stations quiver in case a curse word or two uttered on air during a news documentary covering the 9/11 tragedy will cost those network affiliates hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines.

State Broadcaster Wins Denmark Radio License Auction - August 28, 2006
Reports from the scene tell of a brief, rather dull auction for the Danish national radio license formerly known as Sky Radio. The five qualified bidders had already narrowed to three. State-owned commercial broadcaster TV2 took the prize.

Tom and Jerry Are Going To Quit Smoking For The Most Part, Courtesy of Turner Broadcasting and the British Broadcast Regulator, But All That Violence In Those Same Cartoons – That Stays - August 24, 2006
Turner Broadcasting knows a good PR opportunity when it sees it for its Boomerang cartoon cable network. When a woman complained to the British TV regular that smoking in two Tom and Jerry cartoons was bad for the health of tiny viewers, the broadcaster responded it would remove from those two cartoons any smoking that appeared to be condoned, acceptable, or where it could encourage imitation.

It Has Not Been A Good Three Months For Silvio Berlusconi Since He Lost The Italian Premiership: The New Government Plans To Overhaul the Media Laws That Favor His Mediaset, He Must Stand Trial For Tax Fraud, And Even a Spanish Court Is Investigating Him - July 13, 2006
Losing the Italian general elections by less than one percentage point three months ago could well cost Silvio Berlusconi dearly. Italy’s richest businessman and former prime minister has seen his Constitutional reforms that he rammed through Parliament before the election rejected in a referendum, the government says it is going to overhaul media laws that just happen to favor his Mediaset, a judge has ordered him to stand trial for tax fraud concerning alleged Mediaset financial shenanigans, and a Spanish court is looking at tax fraud concerning his holdings in Telecinco.

Lines On the Sandy Brussels Beach - July 3, 2006

Immediate response was rather muted to EC Media Commissioner Vivaine Reding proposed revisions to the TV Without Frontiers Directive. That was six months ago. EURO-MEI and British government, regulator and media business are firmly opposed...for different reasons.

Finnish Government Shuffles, Expands Commercial Radio Licenses - June 3, 2006
Publishing giant SanomaWSOY received two new radio licenses while MTV Media and SBS each lost one. The Transport and Communications Ministry issued six national and 47 local radio licenses for the five-year term beginning January 1, 2007.

Berlusconi’s Disregard of the Italian TV Election Laws Nearly Won Him A Major Upset When He Should Have Lost Big, But Post Election He Got The Good News The Anti Trust Authority Cleared The €200 Million In State Subsidies For DTT Desktop Boxes, Distributed By His Brother, Necessary For His Mediaset Empire To Get Digital Broadcasts Going - May 22, 2006
If there is any doubt that Silvio Berlusconi knows how to work the media you simply have to look at his tactics during the recent election. Starting the unofficial campaign some eight points down he lost by just one-tenth of one per cent. It was a classic lesson in how to use the media.

Mrs Reding to TV: I Cannot Protect You From Competition - May 2, 2006

European commercial televisions executives, gathered in Brussels, heard DG Info Society and Media Commissioner Vivaine Reding talk bluntly about survival.

Regulator Moves on Czech Digital TV Licenses - April 13, 2006
Political overtones color Europe’s digital media rondo obbligato, nowhere more than in the new Member States where the score changes as quickly as the ensemble members and conductors. Breathlessly, the audience still waits for the curtain to rise.

Switzerland Writes New Media Law - April 3, 2006
The final draft of Switzerland’s new law on radio and television (LRTV) reached Parliament after three years in the writing. The long process enabled public and private broadcasters, politicians and civil society to debate, change and debate again the first fundamentally different Swiss media legislation since the 1980’s. For radio broadcasters the new LRTV will bring liberalized advertising and sponsoring rules and, eventually, new FM frequency allocations.

Regulators Work Together For Digital Solutions - April 3, 2006
Nine European media regulators are beginning an ambitious project to coordinate digital strategies. Working in four distinct geographic “sub-projects,” German, Swiss, Austrian, Italian authorities are meeting regularly to “build a new architecture of inter-working media services by inter-working infrastructures of broadcasting and telecommunications for the media needs of a mobile Information society,” explained Dr. Peter Kettner, DMB Project Manager with Bayerische Landeszentrale für neue Medien (BLM), Germany.

The Beatles and Denmark Bob For Apple Bites- March 30, 2006
Big, successful ideas should make everybody happy, right? Of course, not! They only become targets of universal ire.

France vs Google. France vs Microsoft. France vs CNN. Now, it’s France vs Apple. Just More of the Same, Right? - March 27, 2006

Maybe not! Keeping to their strong tradition of dismissing the French, the Anglo-American media missed the point. Interoperability may test business models but it’s great for consumers.

Public Flogging of BBC Nears End. Damage Phase Ensues - March 20, 2006
The UK Department of Culture, Media and Sport’s White Paper on the BBC set out the terms it expects from the renewal of the BBC’s Royal Charter. Little in the document differs from the previous Green Papers or the public statements of Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell. Years after the Hutton Report made the BBC fair-game for flogging the punishment terms are evident. Damages – to the license fee – will be assessed this summer.

Wake Up, Catch Up and Overhaul! - March 6, 2006
European media policy all-stars gathered in Vienna to confer about digital content. The big message: Don't just sit back and watch, do something!

Media Sighs Relief At Services Directive Exclusion - February 20, 2006

The latest draft passed the European Parliament after amendments ripped out the hotly contested “country of origin” principle. The audiovisual sector was excluded – along with gambling and public healthcare. Europe’s media organizations breathed a palpable sigh of relief.

It Was Just a Joke Says Radio COPE - February 5, 2006
A broadcasting law recently taking force in the Spanish Catalan region is raising tensions – and considerable naughty language - as the government controlled regulator takes on Cadena COPE.

What Is So Delicious About What Silvio Berlusconi Does Is That He Is So Blatant, So “In Your Face.” He Knows It. The Italians Know It. And He Gets Away With It. - January 29, 2006
If you’re prime minister of Italy facing a general election in April, and you’re behind in the polls you’d want to get as much positive television exposure as possible in the weeks leading up to the election. Right? Especially if you control one way or the other some 90% of Italian television! But you know that once Parliament is dissolved there are very tough rules in Italy equalizing television exposure time for candidates, and banning political adverts. So what do you do?

EC Grants More Radio / TV Time to Belarus - January 28, 2006

The European Commission (EC) granted €2 million to an NGO and broadcaster consortium for rapid deployment of radio and television broadcasts to election eminent Belarus. The Commissioners contribution came the same day as the Council of Europe (CoE) debated neighborly advice to Belarus.

Motor FM / Netzeitung Plan for Berlin Radio Approved - January 25, 2006
The Berlin-Brandenberg Media Authority (MABB) announced approval of a joint venture between Motor FM, principally owned by former Universal Music president Tim Renner, and webcaster Netzeitung to operate a new radio channel

German Regulators Crack Whip at Axel Springer-ProSiebenSat Deal - January 8, 2006
Nobody really thought the anti-competition or anti-concentration authorities would pass the Alex Springer – ProSiebenSat1 deal with a blink and a nod, potentially putting Germany’s biggest publisher into the television business and head-to-head with Bertlesmann/RTL. Either more concessions from Springer or a new financing plan, hence a new partner, for ProSieben will appear this week. Or maybe something else...

Mrs Reding’s Holiday Gifts For All - December 15, 2005
EC Information Society Commissioner Viviane Reding revealed to the Commission and the world the long awaited and debated proposal for Audiovisual Media Without Frontiers, the Directive set to replace the technologically worn and torn TV Without Frontiers.

Comments on proposed TVWF revision:

• German private broadcasters critical of TV rules draft - December 15, 2005
• AER welcomes exclusion of radio
• TVWF proposal “falls short of expectations,” says egta
• European Publishers Council “fears allayed” by Directive proposal. But…
• European Broadcasting Union welcomes TVWF “extended scope”

No Badmouthing Under Kazakh Domain - December 14, 2005
The World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in Tunis was a rather humorless affair. Grumpy delegates representing both the wired and un-wired worlds traded barbs over who or what should manage internet domain names. Imagine the difference if organizers had invited British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen to moderate.

Tale of Three Berlin FM Frequencies - December 5, 2005
Berlin radio listeners will soon hear a very different “American” channel as the MABB again rocks the boat.

WSIS in Tunis – They Came, They Talked, They Wimped Out - November 17, 2005
“Internet governance” is a defining term: defining the ultimate oxymoron. So when 16,000 delegates descended on Tunis this week the headlines were all about grabbing that tiger by the tail and lifting it from the clutches of the Americans. After three days of reality check a new, simpler message appeared: never mind!

Poland – Too Hot? – November 10, 2005
Being in Warsaw this week, I am reminded of an old music industry expression: Too Hot Not to Cool Down. It’s meant as a warning to those hotter than hot new stars. It’s a concept not lost on media people in Poland. And the effect is being felt throughout the sector.

Convergence is Here!! - October 31, 2005
EC media commissioner Viviane Reding spells out a delicate vision for moving forward, and every other direction.

“One way to judge which way the (Italian political) wind is blowing is to keep a close eye on the RAI privatization.” ftm, Jan.1, 2005; RAI Privatization Dead - Oct. 27, 2005
The more Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s center-right coalition dropped in the opinion polls for next April’s election, and the more Romano Prodi’s center-left coalition gathered popularity, the more the privatization of state broadcaster RAI was in doubt. Now it is dead.

Basic Numbers - October 18, 2005
A dialogue with radio advertising specialists in Budapest raised fundamental questions about audience measurement. How can the numbers be trusted?

Budapest is Busy - October 13, 2005
Film production is set to boom. Media rules are set to change. The intrepid reporter searches busy Budapest

Fees and Financing in Tallinn / Estonia - September 29, 2005
Estonian public broadcasters have their own financing dilemma. At the first of this year advertising was removed from both Estonian Radio and Estonian TV. Funding is now from the state budget. The two commercial television stations pay a fee, intended to support public broadcasting but it stops at the Estonian state general budget first, where it might find other uses. And the fee amount is about one-fifth as large as the ad revenue had been. The deficit now made up, more or less, by the State.

The EU Looks Like Making TV Happy By Allowing Product Placement Within Strict Rules - September 29, 2005
Product placement is worth about $2 billion a year to US television and allegedly it’s worth $0 in the European Union, because it is prohibited for the most part. That European exclusion may soon come to an end, but with restrictions so the public knows what is going on.

EC Audiovisual Conference Debates New Media Rules - September 19, 2005
The European Union’s main policy experts, regulators, broadcasters, legislators along with industry and employees associations will gather in Liverpool to “facilitate expert discussion of the revision of the Television Without Frontiers Directive.”

Big Baby Gets Dutch Work Permit? - September 5, 2005
“Big Brother” opens its new season in the Netherlands promising, at least in the season promotion, a live birth. One of the contestants is in the final trimester of pregnancy and would, if not earlier voted off the show, give birth right there on TV from the Big Brother house. Not exactly stunning television. Births have been televised live before, though usually in public TV documentaries.

Radio Teddy: Another Stumble for German PSBs - August 29, 2005
A radio channel for children seems such a brilliant undertaking. It can be educational, entertaining. Just think of the possibilities!

Stealth Ads Cause “Scandal” at German TV - August 1, 2005
The German term for product placement is “schleichwerbung,” and the director of one of the country’s largest public broadcasters calls it “the plague.”

EC Says Rights Are in the Hand of the Holder - July 13, 2005
The European Commission sent media people off on summer holidays with a little light beach reading.

TV5 Chairman Questions CFII - June 21, 2005
Debate in France rages on over the fate, but largely the expense, of the Chaine Française Internationale d’Information (CFII). Quoted in Journal du Dimanche last Sunday (June 19), and reported by AFP, TV5 chairman Jean-Jacques Aillagon suggested TV5 performs already CFII’s mission: “At the time when Anglo-Saxon domination of information pushes us to erect…new projects…one wonders whether it would not be preferable, and less expensive, to mobilize the existing tool, which is TV5.”.

French International News Channel Cleared to Go by EC. “Russia Today” Set to Go, Too. - June 13, 2005
Governments looking to spin television news to their liking are setting up satellite channels. And they are avoiding their own international broadcasting agencies.
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Digital Legislating - April 28, 2005
Governments are attacking the digital media problem and warming, again, to analogue shut-off dates for radio.

New Youth Station Licensed to Zürich - April 1, 2005
After 18 months of proposals, counter-proposals, discussions and more discussions the Swiss government approved a license for a new radio station for young people in Zürich.

Goodbye to the Services Directive - March 24, 2005
No need to wind-up about country of origin or cultural exclusions for audiovisual services. The Bolkestein Directive on services is DAB (No, not that one. Dead And Buried)

Kiev Media Conference: Globalized Media Leads to “Adult Contemporary Music” - March 17, 2005
Council of Europe Ministers and NGOs met in the Ukraine capital exploring all the ills of big media and bad governments.

European Commission Sends Broadcasters New Signals - March 1, 2005
Reorganizing European Commission Directorates, President José Manuel Barroso is sending strong signals to the audiovisual industry. The most important is that the Commission recognizes the sector’s economic as well as cultural significance. But, equally important, profound changes in technology taking place right now do not pause for rule-makers thoughtful debate.

The European Christian Lobby Against TV Indecency Learns From Its US Cousins the Organized Way to Fight Alleged Blasphemy and Obscenity. It Would Make Even Jerry Springer Blush! - January 16, 2005
There are times when journalists would give almost anything to pull back a story.

French News Channel OK, Arab News Channel Not OK - December 16, 2004
French PM Jean-Pierre Raffarin announces launch plans for Chaîne Française d’Information Internationale. The French Parliament halts the distribution of Hezbullah TV channel Al-Manar.

Private Ryan Is Saved, But Now the FCC Investigates the Olympic Games Opening Ceremony - December 15, 2004
The FCC has finally made it clear: One “F” word used by a star at a US televised awards ceremony is a no-no!

Austrian Legislature Changes Law to “Save” Radio Station - December 8, 2004
The administrative court revoked Graz radio station KroneHit’s license. The legislature stepped in and gave Austria its first national commercial radio station.

Is Saving Private Ryan a Bridge Too Far? - November 15, 2004
We had warned that the US FCC crackdown on indecency after the Janet Jackson“nipplegate” incident would have effects far beyond US borders,  and first indications regretfully prove we are right.

Turn the FCC Loose in Europe and the US National Debt Would Soon Become a Surplus - October 13, 2004
For less than a split second of seeing Janet Jackson’s pierced nipple aired by CBS at the Super Bowl, the FCC fines the network $550,000. Gee, it makes one wonder how it would react watching the hardcore sex on France’s Canal Plus or the softcore sex that even some European public stations broadcast.

Swiss OFCOM director Marc Furrer appointed to ComCom - October 5, 2004
The Swiss Parliament selected OFCOM director Marc Furrer as the next president of ComCom, the Swiss Federal Communications Commission.

Swiss regulator study finds space for “super-regionals” - August 31, 2004
A study commissioned by Swiss telecom regulator OFCOM and released August 31 finds room for new “super-regional” private, commercial stations.

EU Greets New Radio Audiences - June 1, 2004 On 1 May 2004, in one giant stroke, 10 nations, 74 million people and more than 800 radio stations joined the European Union

‘Big Bang’ Proposed for French Radio - March 1, 2004
A proposal moving through the French National Assembly could re-draw the entire FM radio landscape within the next four years.

Europe's Media Rules

Media rule makers are taking strong positions on competition, State aid, public broadcasting finance and advertising. and that's only for starters. As the Audiovisual Media Services Directive takes effect, national rules are changing. Europe's Media Rules has all the background and latest developments. 82 pages PDF (June 2008)

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Media Searches for Business Models

The search for effective business models challenges traditional media and new. From broadcasting to publishing, Hollywood to China, media outlets confront change after change in new terms for revenue creation and value. Media Searches for Business Models is 30 articles on what's real and what's not. 76 pages PDF (May 2008)

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The Beijing Olympic Games and China

The Beijing Olympic Games is the most anticipated media event of the 21st century. ftm is following the run-up to the Games, Brand China, Digital China, media business in China and the state of China's media freedom. 25 articles 60 pages PDF (April 2008)

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