Press Release: Commission calls on Member States to rule with a light hand while updating TV rules in 2009

One year after the entry into force of a new EU Directive meant to liberalise TV rules and remove outdated and bureaucratic restrictions on the provision of digital TV over the internet, video on demand and mobile TV in Europe, EU Member States had made little progress in adapting national rules. Only Romania has comprehensively implemented the new EU audiovisual media rules that entered into force on 19 December 2007. The EU's Audiovisual Media Services Directive, adopted by the European Parliament and the EU Council of Ministers on a proposal from the Commission rebooted the old EU rules on traditional TV broadcasting for the digital age and its new generation of TV-like services. The other 26 Member States are currently putting the modernised rules for Europe's audiovisual industry into national law. They have until December 2009. By then the EU should have a single market for all audiovisual media services, providing legal certainty for businesses and more diverse and quality programming for viewers.

European Commission: MEMO/08/803: Audiovisual Media Services without Frontiers: Frequently Asked Questions http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=MEMO/08/803&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en

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