Publications

On 21 December 2011 Ofcom upheld an appeal by News Group Newspapers against a determination by ATVOD that the video section of The Sun's website was subject to TV-style regulation pursuant to the AVMS Directive.

Head of Broadcasting Tony Ballard refers to the so-called 'pub football cases' and looks at whether the current practice of exclusive territorial licensing of digital content is compatible with European law.

It has been another unusual year, and although many clients continued to face difficult markets, an increasingly large proportion have been thriving. Has a corner been turned? We don't think so yet - but the signs are encouraging, and we have begun 2011 with great optimism.

Read the Annual Review of our work and achievements from 2010.

Ofcom has delegated much of the day-to-day regulation of TV-like on-demand services to ATVOD and ASA, but has retained some functions. They include appeals from ATVOD's decisions on the scope of the new regime and the application of sanctions for non-compliance. Ofcom has now launched a consultation on the procedures that it intends to apply in handling appeals from ATVOD's decisions on scope and in imposing sanctions.

Spectrum will shortly become available for the development of next generation mobile services in the UK. It will include some of the spectrum which was previously used for television broadcasting and which is being released as a result of digital switchover and also the so-called 3G expansion band.

Providers of on-demand programme services must complete and send a notification form to the new regulator, ATVOD, on or before 29 April. There are penalties for non-compliance.

This is an update on the new legislation permitting product placement in UK broadcast television. It comes into force on 16 April. It gives effect to what Ben Bradshaw announced in February but there are some unexpected features which we describe in this note.