The Council has adopted the Directive on price indications; this obliges the indication of the price and price per unit of measure for all products, excepting only works of art, antiques, goods sold at auction and products furnished in the framework of a service. Some other derogations are permitted.
Two of Europe’s biggest players in digital TV development – the German companies Kirch and Bertelsmann – have agreed to stop selling their TV set-top decoder boxes (which can be used for receiving multiple channels and interactive broadcasts) and their digital pay-TV services until the Commission has completed an investigation into the German digital TV… Continue reading DE: Digital Wars Ceasefire
IPC has said that it will be splitting its Specialist Group into two separate publishing arms following yesterday’s announcement that the company has been sold to a management buyout team (see yesterday’s IPC Magazines Gains Independence ).The IPC Music & Sport Group will be headed by Andy McDuff, who becomes its managing director, and the… Continue reading IPC Restructures Specialist Group
It was again a poor month among the national newspapers, with only three titles showing year on year increases in their June-November NRS figures.The Guardian performed particularly well with a rise in readership of almost 7% while the Sunday Telegraph showed an increase of 8%. The People saw the largest readership fall of the month… Continue reading National Newspaper NRS – November
The European Parliament Culture Committee voted on 24 September to allocate ECU 20 million for the creation of an Audiovisual Guarantee Fund, with the aim of boosting the Fund’s encouragement of EU audiovisual production. The European Federation of Audiovisual Directors (EFAD) has recently observed that there exists a huge gap between European and North American… Continue reading EU: Culture Committee Backs Fund
Channel 4 is rumoured to be planning a digital channel based on its successful Film on Four department.According to the Observer a proposal for the film channel will be put to the Channel 4 board in the Autumn as part of a long-term business plan prepared by media consultant Hydra.It is said that the upmarket… Continue reading C4 In Film Channel Rumours
The Council has adopted unanimously a Directive on consumer credit, which modifies Directive 87/102/EEC on Consumer Credit. It establishes throughout the EU a single method of calculation of the real annual cost of consumer credit.
The Confederation of the Food and Drink Industries of the EU has decided voluntarily to label foods containing genetically modified soyabeans or maize, in the absence of an agreement between EU Member States to introduce common labelling rules. The Confederation said it was alarmed at the failure of the EU to agree common rules and… Continue reading EU: Genetically Modified Crops
The Radio Advertising Bureau has started a new series of publications entitled RAB LAB. The first in the series is The Grammar of Radio Advertising and is a ‘snapshot’ analysis of contemporary British radio advertising.The report, based in analysis of a random selection of over 300 radio commercials, seeks to explore how radio advertising “expresses… Continue reading RAB Launches Publication Series
Today’s announcement that Reed Elsevier has sold IPC Magazines to Cinven, the venture capital group, means that the company will now operate as an independent publisher and will not be split up into separate divisions.While Cinven actually raised the £860 million in cash, the publisher will be run by its existing management team which is… Continue reading IPC Magazines Gains Independence
