The Italian government has issued a decree imposing increased local content quotas on national TV channels. Italian TV channels must now increase their output of Italian movies and TV series aired during primetime hours (6pm to 11pm), and also make compulsory content investments, subject to severe sanctions. In practice, this means that each national TV […]
UK communications regulator Ofcom is to face questions from parliament’s House of Commons Digital, Culture Media and Sport Committee on October 10th. It is expected that the session will cover the Fox/Sky merger, BBC regulation, and the impact of Brexit. Representing Ofcom will be Sharon White, Chief Executive of Ofcom and Dame Patricia Hodgson, Chairman […]
Industry trade body Cable Europe has once again called upon European Institutions to stand by the original goals of the proposed Electronic Communications Code, as the European Parliament’s ITRE Committee adopted a number of amendments October 2nd. The body commended the Committee for its work to date, but warned against the consequences of introducing legal […]
Advocacy body the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) – which defends civil liberties in the digital world – has described recent initiatives by copyright enforcement bodies against preconfigured Kodi boxes as “abusive”, suggesting that courts should reject such expansions of copyright liability. In a Deeplinks Blog Post, The War on General-Purpose Computing Turns on the Streaming […]
The OTT competitive landscape is dominated by a handful of players with a worldwide approach, according to an IDATE report. They clearly have a dominant position in data-based markets such as search, ecommerce, cloud, social networks, online advertising, says the research and consultancy firm. This obviously raises regulation
The Social Market Foundation (SMF) – an independent, non-partisan think tank – says that big companies in UK sectors such as broadband, mobile telephony and personal banking don’t face enough competition, meaning that consumers are hit with a lack of choice, higher prices and underinvestment, suggesting that part of the increased concentration seen in the […]
Global citizens movement Avaaz has launched what it describes as an “unprecedented” public interest legal challenge to Britain’s broadcasting regulator, filing papers in court seeking a judicial review of Ofcom’s decision to clear the proposed takeover of Sky by 21st Century Fox. In June 2017, Ofcom found that if Sky was fully owned by Fox, […]
Portuguese operators NOS and Vodafone Portugal have opposed the planned acquisition by Altice Group of Media Capital. According to Madalena Sutcliffe, director of regulation of Vodafone Portugal, the operation cannot be approved by national regulators ERC and the Competition Authority “not even with compromises because it creates so many problems of pluralism”. Sutcliffe pointed out […]
Trade body Cable Europe has voiced concerns over the future of investment in telecommunications network infrastructure, as it responds to the Belgian consultation on levels of competition in the broadband and broadcasting markets. Submitting a formal response to a national consultation is a rarity for the association of cable operators. Cable Europe says it feels […]
The Association of Commercial Television in Europe (ACT) welcomed the publication of the European Commission’s Communication Tackling Illegal Content Online: Towards an enhanced responsibility of online platforms. The Communication’s self-regulatory approach involves online platforms taking greater responsibility for removing illegal content uploaded by users. The Communication is clear that violations of intellectual property – primarily […]