EC relaxes rules for new format broadcasters
91777
Audiovisual without frontiers The European Commission has relaxed the rules on advertising for the audiovisual sector in response to the growth of media services such as video-on-demand.â¦
414503
Europeans are a step closer to having television on their mobile phones: Two groups of companies said they would push forward with consumer trials and establish a standard for the technology.
696996
The European Union&#39;s telecoms chief  said on Thursday she would favor the European mobile television  broadcasting standard over U.S. and Korean rivals, when the  Commission decides which to back next month.
260557
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.
275566
Plans to revamp the euro&#39;s battered rulebook won key backing yesterday, as the European Commission bowed to the inevitable and called for more flexible implementation of the single currency&#39;s widely flouted rules.
445281
The European telecoms industry is  looking for new, higher frequencies to make up for a shortage  of airwaves that can be used to enable consumers to watch  television on the go.
726750
(InfoWorld) - Germany plans to introduce a monthly broadcast charge next year for homes and businesses that have an Internet-connected computer and don't already pay registration fees for television and radio service. One business association has called it "a complete rip-off." A heated debate about the fee, which also applies to Internet-enabled wireless devices and games consoles, has been raging in Germany since the minister presidents of the country's 16 states agreed to the plan in October 2005. It heated up again late Wednesday when one of the country's largest public broadcasters, ARD, announced a monthly fee of â¬5.52 ($7.00) per household and said that ZDF, another big public broadcaster, was in agreement. Under the plan, which will go into effect Jan. 1, households and businesses with a registered TV or radio are exempt from the new charge. Those without a registered broadcasting device but with an Internet-enabled PC, wireless device, or game console capable of receiving broadcasting content must pay the new fee. Germany isn't alone on this front. Ireland also plans to extend the definition of a TV set to include PCs, laptops and mobile phones under a new broadcasting bill, which was published for public consultation earlier this month. And the issue is likely to arise in other countries that use a broadcasting fee to help finance their state-funded public broadcasters. The planned fee in Germany, although lower than the â¬17.03 monthly charge initially proposed, has nevertheless drawn sharp criticism from numerous industry groups in the country. The German Association for Information Technology, Telecommunications and New Media (Bitkom) has called it "a rotten compromise that is being cemented into a payment scheme long overdue for change." The association calculates that over a four-year period, a PC would generate fee-based costs of more than â¬800 -- nearly the net price of the machine. German businesses could be burdened with additional costs of more than â¬150 million annually. The Federal Association of Small and Medium-size Businesses in Germany views an extension of the broadcasting fee as an attempt to force companies to help plug holes in the dwindling coffers of public broadcasters. The association called the move "a complete rip-off." Although the fee calls for a review in three years to take into account new technological developments, such as mobile phones capable of receiving broadcasts signals, German businesses worry that once a fee is introduced in the country, it's likely to stay.
434411
The European Commission backed a  Nokia-led  mobile television broadcasting standard on  Wednesday in a move that could spur growth in the fledgling but  potentially lucrative sector.
205427
EU restrictions on British meat and livestock imposed because of foot-and-mouth are relaxed after no new cases were confirmed.
376084
Britain might relax rules about the  speed at which mobile phone operators have to build out  third-generation (3G) networks as part of a radical overhaul to  throw open the highly-regulated market for radio frequencies.
187362
Traditional link between BBC and licence fee could be broken by reforms being considered by Ofcom
172046
Media & professional: Ofcom to amend TV and radio stations' licences to make them directly responsible for lapses.
755261
Regulators ease restrictions stopping firms from owning both TV channels and newspapers in the US's largest cities.
466291
"Oldies" music remains popular among many generations, which could present a window of opportunity for record companies in Europe to take advantage of royalties terms expiring after 50 years. Today, the EC may be looking to shut that window.
321471
The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has agreed a deal with pay-TV operator Sky Sports for all home Test matches, one-day internationals, Twenty20 and county action.
19287
U.S. television broadcasters that  decide to offer more programming on over-the-air digital  channels will also have to include some additional shows geared  toward children, U.S. regulators ruled on Thursday.
137344
A Federal Communications Commission proposal would relax decades-old rules, including one that forbids a company to own both a newspaper and a broadcast station in the same city.