The ITC today announced that it had formally awarded a digital TV licence to SDN, a jointly owned company in which NTL, S4C and United News & Media hold equal shares.The ITC had previously said that it would award a licence to SDN (formally S4C Digital Networks, see UNM Seeks New Route To Digital TV)… Continue reading ITC Grants Digital Licence To SDN
The European Commission has finally agreed that genetically modified food will only have to be labelled as such when the presence of GMOs is proven, and has thus dropped its previous requirement that such foods should carry “may contain” labelling when it is unclear if they contain GMOs.
A proposal for a Directive concerning the use of electronic signatures has been put forward by the EC. By laying down minimum rules concerning security and liability, the proposal would ensure electronic signatures were legally recognised throughout the EU on the basis of the Single Market principles of free movement of services, thus creating a… Continue reading EU: Electronic signatures
The Direct Marketing Association in the UK has succeeded in having Clause 10 (2) deleted from the Data Protection Bill. This clause would have required data controllers to acknowledge opt-out requests – including those made via “tick boxes” on order forms – within 21 days of receipt
A survey by Radio Rentals shows that just 5% of the UK population are aware that digital terrestrial television will be launching later this year.It also found that 28% of people had not heard of digital TV and 60% did not realise that set-top boxes will be needed to receive the services.Radio Rentals: 0118 930… Continue reading Survey Casts Shadow On Digital TV
The European Parliament has adopted the Mann report on electronic commerce and tele-shopping, voting in favour of a resolution which welcomed new initiatives to promote electronic trading. Industry Commissioner Martin Bangemann said that the question of taxation of transactions on the Internet had been raised and that the Commission would need to find a solution… Continue reading EU: Tele-shopping and commerce
The European Commission has sent to member state governments a draft agenda for the first meeting of the Expert Group on commercial communications, which will take place on 27 May 1998. A working paper on ‘The Regulation of Discounts in the Internal Market’ has also been distributed. The agenda – as expected – is largely… Continue reading EU: Expert Group assembles
The Senate has began to debate the Tobacco Bill, which gives considerable powers to the US Food & Drug Administration to control and restrict tobacco marketing. The Senate is almost certain to pass the proposed legislation, which will: ban free samples of merchandise bearing tobacco emblems ban tobacco advertising in magazines with either a large… Continue reading US: Senate debates Tobacco Bill
The all-party House of Commons select committee for culture, media and sport has called on the UK Government to create a Department of Communications, which would have responsibility for telecommunications, broadcasting, media, and the Internet, and would be overseen by a single Communications Regulation Commission, replacing all the existing statutory regulatory bodies.
A decision on the planned digital-TV joint venture between Kirch Group and CLT-Ufa, the two German media groups, may be delayed by the European Commission. The German media company Bertelsmann has a 40 per cent stake in CLT-Ufa, and confirmed that the two sides had sought to obtain a compromise with the Commission, which has… Continue reading EU: German digital venture on or off?
