Indiantelevision.com Team

(28 May 2007 3:20 pm)

MUMBAI: European ministers have agreed on new rules for television and on-demand video on the internet, allowing more advertising and "product placement".

The European Commission says that the new version of the 1989 "TV Without Frontiers" directive will make the EU's audiovisual market more competitive.

Media reports state that the shackles that have bound advertising will also be loosened—the daily limit on ads is gone.

It has been replaced with a flat 12 minutes-per-hour limit—and any person or business subjected to the "assertion of incorrect facts" on a TV programme has the right to reply on air

European producers have complained that they have been at a disadvantage when compared to US colleagues by their inability to accept product placements which gives them additional revenue.

Product placements will now be allowed except in children's programming. It has to be accompanied by statements identifying the placement, though, that air at the beginning, the end, and after each commercial break.

It 18 months for the changes to be made. For films, made-for-television films, children and information shows, the minimum between each commercial break will be cut to 30 minutes from 45 currently.

The new rules give member states the flexibility to set tighter advertising rules on broadcasters if they want to.

The new package also retains the existing country-of-origin principle which says that EU broadcasters only have to respect the rules of the country where they are based not into which they broadcast. That was one of the main demands of Britain, which is home to half of the EU's broadcasters.