[Focus] EU set to relax broadcasting rules
HELENA SPONGENBERG
14.11.2006 @ 15:02 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – The EU is set to allow the displaying of brand logos in European TV productions, which is currently illegal in most member states. But some critics fear the move could jeopardise EU citizens' faith in European television programmes.
"The credibility of the [broadcasting] industry is at stake," said the German culture ministry representative as an EU culture ministers meeting in Brussels on Monday (13 November) looked at how to update the 1989 TV without Frontiers directive, with proposals to relax rules on advertising and also to cover certain internet-based services.
"Advertising is already pervasive but [this] will help to ensure that commercial communications in all its forms will saturate our information, education, entertainment and daily culture to an unprecedented degree," said Jim Murray head of BEUC - a European consumer group.
Product placement - a form of advertising in which programme-makers are paid to display the brand logo certain products in TV shows - is illegal in most EU member states with only Austria having clear rules on the issue.
The meeting revealed majority support for a proposal by the Finnish EU presidency, which will let EU governments allow the use of product placement except in news and children's programmes.
Future European-made programmes could therefore include clearly visible brand logos – such as a character drinking coke or a jogger wearing the latest model of Nike – paid for by the product producer, which will mean that EU broadcasters can tap into a lucrative advertising market.
EU audiovisual and media commissioner Viviane Reding promised yesterday that the bloc had not opted for US-style television where product placement is widely used and where advertising breaks are more prominent than the TV programme themselves.
"We do not want a system where advertisements drive content. We want content to drive advertising," Ms Reding said at a press conference after the meeting, adding that the directive would boost the EU broadcasting industry.
The new broadcasting rules would also cover new technologies - such as internet, mobile phones and video-on-demand - but only if they are TV-like services and therefore in competition with traditional television. YouTube or similar websites, for example, would not be included in this directive.
Most of the EU countries also agreed to relax EU minimum rules on commercial breaks. Although advertisements will remain at a maximum of 12 minutes per hour, the frequency of programme interruptions will no longer be regulated.
Movies, news and children's programmes could be interrupted by advertisements every 30 minutes, but no commercial breaks are allowed during the coverage of religious services.
Member states now have a general common approach to the text ahead of a European Parliament discussion and vote on the directive to take place in December.
EU governments and MEPs need to agree on a common text before it becomes law, which could happen next year during the German presidency in the first half of 2007 at the earliest.