TwfEn

The Television Without Frontiers (TWF) Directive

The "Television Without Frontiers" Directive (TVWF Directive - COD 2005/0260) aims at guaranteeing "the free movement of European television programmes within the internal market and the requirement that television channels, where practicable, reserve over half their broadcasting time for European works".

News and Chronology

Directive 89/552/EEC "Television without frontiers" of 1989

The general principle of the Directive was to establish that Member States "ensure freedom of reception and shall not restrict retransmission on their territory of television programmes from other Member States. They may, however, suspend retransmission of television programmes that infringe the provisions of the Directive on the protection of minors".

See Council Directive 89/552/EEC of 3 October 1989 on the coordination of certain provisions laid down by Law, Regulation or Administrative Action in Member States concerning the pursuit of television broadcasting activities

Revised directive of 1997

In 1997, the European Parliament and the Council adopted a new "Television without Frontiers" directive aiming at ensuring greater legal certainty and updating the provisions of Directive 89/552/EEC. This new directive aims at implementing teleschopping and spinsoring new issues and increases the means regarding the protection of minors and the promotion of the European cultural productions, the Directive was amended in 1997.

See Directive 97/36/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 June 1997 amending Council Directive 89/552/EEC on the coordination of certain provisions laid down by law, regulation or administrative action in Member States concerning the pursuit of television broadcasting activities

The TVWF Directive is being revised since June 2001, involving various phases.

Relevant trend

"At the end of 2002 digital broadcasting reached almost 18% of European households. This covers mainly satellite transmission, while only in a few countries has digital transmission via cable become popular".

The European Commission has to find a way to implement this evolution.

The 13th December 2005, the European Commission presented a proposal to revise the TVWF Directive. The proposal is for an update of the current rules to take account of technological and market developments in the European audiovisual sector.

See Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Council Directive 89/552/EEC on the coordination of certain provisions laid down by law, regulation or administrative action in Member States concerning the pursuit of television broadcasting activities {SEC(2005) 1625} {SEC(2005) 1626} /* COM/2005/0646 final - COD 2005/0260 */

Relevant information concerning the definition of audivisual media services (including apparently podcasting)

(13) The definition of audiovisual media services covers all audiovisual mass-media services, whether scheduled or on-demand. However, its scope is limited to services as defined by the Treaty and therefore covers any form of economic activity, including that of public service enterprises, but does not cover non-economic activities, such as purely private websites.

(14) The definition of audiovisual media services covers mass media in their function to inform, entertain and educate, but excludes any form of private correspondence, such as e-mails sent to a limited number of recipients. The definition also excludes all services not intended for the distribution of audiovisual content, i.e. where any audiovisual content is merely incidental to the service and not its principal purpose. Examples include websites that contain audiovisual elements only in an ancillary manner; such as animated graphical elements, small advertising spots or information related to a product or non-audiovisual service.

(15) This Directive does not cover electronic versions of newspapers and magazines.

(16) The term “audiovisual” refers to moving images with or without sound, so includes silent films but does not cover audio transmission or radio.

That is to say, the future directive does not cover audiovisual media services and contents on Internet that are secondary (such as "small advertising spots"). But podcasting, that is to say the method of distributing multimedia files, such as audio programs or music videos, over the Internet using either the RSS or Atom syndication formats, for playback on mobile devices and personal computers, is clearly pointed out.

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