Television broadcasting activities. 'Television without frontiers'

OBJECTIVE: to amend the 1989 "Television without frontiers" Directive with a view to establishing a clearer, more definite and more effective legal basis to promote the development of television broadcasting activities within the single market. COMMUNITY MEASURE: proposal for a European Parliament and Council directive amending Directive 89/552/EEC on the coordination of certain provisions laid down by law, regulation or administrative action in Member States concerning the pursuit of television broadcasting activities. SUBSTANCE: the European Commission proposes making distribution quotas more restrictive. The quotas would be maintained for ten years and would no longer apply at the end of that period. As an alternative to the quotas, special-interest channels would have the opportunity of investing 25% of their programming budget in European works. Furthermore, the Commission proposes amendments aimed at: - clarifying that the broadcaster should respect the laws in the Member State in which he is established; - strengthening the rules governing the protection of minors with respect to programmes containing scenes involving pornography or violence; - establishing minimum rules for the cross-border development of teleshopping services: no time limit would be set for channels exclusively devoted to this activity, whilst teleshopping windows within other services could last between one and three hours a day; - extending the opportunities for broadcasters to include advertising during their programmes: provision is made for more flexible rules with regard to advertising breaks (particularly during television films) and sponsorship; - clarifying the procedure concerning the minimum time-scale between the first showing of a work in the cinema and its first broadcast on television; - ensuring that all parties who consider themselves to be wronged as a result of a violation of the provisions of the directive could assert their rights before the competent judicial authorities of the Member State in which the broadcaster is established. �