EU threatens to apply TV standards to web media
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Web media threatens to move out: take toys Ofcom, the UK telecommunications regulator, has said that a European Union plan to regulate video risks restricting innovation and even forcing companies to relocate outside the EU to avoid compliance.â¦
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Italy's broadcasting system, dominated by  Mediaset and state-owned RAI, breaks EU rules because it fails  to foster competition, Europe's top court has found.
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HONG KONG (AFX) - Microsoft Corp said the European Commission&#39;s view of the media player market is &quot;incorrect,&quot; and will argue in Brussels later this week that competition is more &quot;vibrant&quot; than the EC believes, the Financial Times reported on its website
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The EU agrees on new rules for TV and on-demand internet video, allowing more advertising.
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The European Commission reaffirmed its  attachment to media freedom on Tuesday when asked about a  Polish plan to investigate the Teletubbies children&#39;s  television show for allegedly promoting homosexuality.
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Opera Software has filed an antitrust suit against Microsoft in the European Union, accusing it of stifling competition by tying its Internet Explorer Web browser to Windows, the Norwegian company said Thursday.The complaint, which was filed with the European Commission on Wednesday, says Microsoft is abusing its dominant position in the desktop PC market by offering only Internet Explorer as a standard part of Windows, and hindering interoperability by not following accepted standards with IE.Opera is asking the Commission, the executive branch of the European Union, to force Microsoft to unbundle IE from Windows, or include other browsers as a standard part of its operating system. It also wants it to require Microsoft to adhere to industry standards with its Web browser.The issue of standards is seen as important because if all Web browsers do not use the same standards, Web site developers are likely to design their Web sites to work with the most widely-used browser, which is Internet Explorer. That gives people a disincentive to use other browsers.Microsoft&#39;s spokesman in Brussels did not immediately have a comment on the lawsuit. The company has argued in the past that consumers benefit from its tight integration of IE and Windows.Opera said it filed the complaint on behalf of all consumers who are tired of having a monopolist make choices for them.The Commission is expected to comment at its daily midday briefing Thursday.The European Committee for Interoperable Systems (ECIS), a Brussels-based trade group that counts Opera among its members, said it strongly endorses Opera&#39;s move.&quot;By tying its Internet Explorer product to its monopoly Windows operating system and refusing to faithfully implement industry accepted open standards, Microsoft deprives consumers of a real choice in internet browsers. Browsers are the gateway to the internet. Microsoft seeks to control this gateway,&quot; said Thomas Vinje, speaking for ECIS.Opera&#39;s complaint signals a potentially new front in&#160;Microsoft&#39;s long-running battle with the European authorities, and comes three months after the Court of First Instance (CFI) -- Europe&#39;s second highest court --&#160;threw out Microsoft&#39;s appeal of a 2004 European Commission antitrust ruling against it.The CFI endorsed the Commission&#39;s finding that Microsoft had illegally bundled its media playing software, Media Player, into Windows, exploiting its monopoly in the desktop operating system market to gain influence in the market for desktop media player software.Opera&#39;s complaint against the bundling of IE into Windows uses the same legal argument.However, the Commission&#39;s remedy against Microsoft&#39;s bundling has proved useless, which may weaken the value of the 2004 ruling as a legal precedent.The Commission ordered Microsoft to sell a second version of Windows that has Media Player stripped out. Microsoft christened the second version Edition N, and put it on the market in 2005, at the same price as the fully bundled Windows. Not surprisingly, no one bought it.&#160;
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Proposed changes to healthcare regulation in the European Union could threaten  patient care standards, doctors argue.
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Microsoft's attempt to get EU antitrust penalties against it suspended turns to the question of its media player.
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The European Commission said Monday that it has threatened the German government with legal action unless it scraps a new law that protects Deutsche Telekom AG from competition in the broadband Internet access market.
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The European Commission is turning to video-sharing Web site YouTube.com to disseminate official EU information.
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Authors and composers have until July  9 to comment on proposed new EU rules loosening restrictive  territorial contracts for copyright registration on the  Internet, satellite and cable retransmission of music.
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Broadcasters are trying to persuade the FCC not to allow wireless Internet services in the white spaces of TV spectrum, plan ad campaign.
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The EU's decision to back a single standard for TV on mobiles could see the UK fall behind, warn analysts.
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The European Union has launched a 45 million euro ($60 million) plan to protect children from pornography and racist sites when they surf the Internet.
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Media studies education for all, apparently The European Union's Directorate of the Bleeding Obvious* has concluded, essentially, that the media is full of rubbish and that its audience is ill-equipped to assess the quality of the information that it is offered. Furthermore, the audience itself is now complicating matters by producing its own rubbish in multiple overlapping and intersecting formats. It follows, says the European Commission, that media literacy "becomes even more essential for active citizenship and democracy."â¦
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Speculation is rife that Google announcements will include a local version of YouTube for European countries.
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The European Union's 27 national telecom authorities must submit plans to regulate the single European market by Feb. 16Â or face ceding those powers to the European Commission, Telecommunications Commissioner Viviane Reding has warned.