15/12/2006

On December 12, the European Parliament backed the first reading of the report that includes a new approach to advertising rules on European television channels. This report will set the foundations for the new Audiovisual Media Services Directive (formerly known as Television Without Frontiers Directive). The Members of Parliament also agreed to broaden the scope of the Directive to include the new means of broadcasting.

One particularly debated topic is product placement, which will be strictly forbidden in "news and current affairs programmes, children's programmes, documentaries and advice programmes". Furthermore, viewers should be appropriately notified of the existence of product placement in such programmes "at the start and at the end of the programme and by a signal at least every 20 minutes during the programme". Product placement for tobacco and cigarettes (and other related products) should be totally banned.

The Parliament did not wholly endorse the Commission's suggested definition of audiovisual media services, opting instead to modify the concepts of "linear services" and "on demand services" in the draft legislation. The former refers to traditional television broadcasting "transmitted according to a fixed programming schedule", while the latter comprises services such as Web TV or Video On Demand, where a user requests the transmission of a given programme "on an individual basis".

Moreover, additional MEPs agreed to approve the necessary measures that would allow the Member States to adopt more restricted rules.

(Translated from Spanish)