Major events play an important role in society. By popular demand major sporting events, such as Olympic Games and the football World Cup, are broadcast prominently on television together with previews, live coverage and reports for weeks on end.
The legal framework governing broadcasts of major events under EU law is not just topical for broadcasters but also for consumers, who are not only able to access information about an event but also to watch an event and become themselves spectators of a live event. Sometimes, however, the pleasure of consumers may be tarnished as major events are made available by broadcasters only on pay-per-view TV rather than on a free-to-air basis.
Audiovisual media law at EU level regulates this issue by attempting to secure public access on free-to-air television for events of major importance for society, either as broadcasts or full-length reports. This is regulated by the Television Without Frontiers Directive and the Audiovisual Media Services Directive.
In terms of these directives, member states may draw up lists of events which they consider to be of major importance to their citizens, thus making them available on a free-to-air basis nationwide. These lists are notified to the EU Commission which then verifies their compliance with EU law. If the Commission considers that the list adheres to EU law, the list is published in the Official Journal of the European Communities.
Evidently, this falls short of a binding Europe-wide list of major events and member states retain their discretion for drawing up such lists. But the directive lays down a mutual recognition mechanism, whereby member states are obliged to help in the enforcement of, and effectively enforce, the list of regulations drawn up by others.
This places an important task on member states since they must ensure that broadcasters under their jurisdiction do not exercise exclusive rights in such a way that the public of another member state is deprived of following major events listed in that other member state.
The procedure established under these two EU directives is aimed to prevent exclusive reporting of a major event to the selected few who pay for the transmission, thus depriving a substantial proportion of the public of following such events.
A number of member states have notified their lists to the Commission. Malta's choice of major events varies from cultural events, such as the Malta Song for Europe, to sports events, such as the Maltese national football team's competitive home and away matches, including direct coverage for the Maltese national football team competitive home matches,the final and semi-final games of the UEFA Cup and Champions' League, and the opening ceremony, the opening game, the quarter-finals, the semi-finals and the final of the FIFA World Cup and UEFA European Football Championship.
This mechanism of public access to major events ensures that society is not split into groups with different levels of access based on means. The acquisition of certain exclusive broadcasting rights is not prohibited but, rather, the exercise of those rights is regulated.
Ultimately, the choice of which major events are made accessible freely to all, rests on the member state drawing up such list. This list will automatically be respected by all the EU member states.
• Dr Grech is an associate with Guido de Marco & Associates and heads its European law division.
The legal framework governing broadcasts of major events under EU law is not just topical for broadcasters but also for consumers, who are not only able to access information about an event but also to watch an event and become themselves spectators of a live event. Sometimes, however, the pleasure of consumers may be tarnished as major events are made available by broadcasters only on pay-per-view TV rather than on a free-to-air basis.
Audiovisual media law at EU level regulates this issue by attempting to secure public access on free-to-air television for events of major importance for society, either as broadcasts or full-length reports. This is regulated by the Television Without Frontiers Directive and the Audiovisual Media Services Directive.
In terms of these directives, member states may draw up lists of events which they consider to be of major importance to their citizens, thus making them available on a free-to-air basis nationwide. These lists are notified to the EU Commission which then verifies their compliance with EU law. If the Commission considers that the list adheres to EU law, the list is published in the Official Journal of the European Communities.
Evidently, this falls short of a binding Europe-wide list of major events and member states retain their discretion for drawing up such lists. But the directive lays down a mutual recognition mechanism, whereby member states are obliged to help in the enforcement of, and effectively enforce, the list of regulations drawn up by others.
This places an important task on member states since they must ensure that broadcasters under their jurisdiction do not exercise exclusive rights in such a way that the public of another member state is deprived of following major events listed in that other member state.
The procedure established under these two EU directives is aimed to prevent exclusive reporting of a major event to the selected few who pay for the transmission, thus depriving a substantial proportion of the public of following such events.
A number of member states have notified their lists to the Commission. Malta's choice of major events varies from cultural events, such as the Malta Song for Europe, to sports events, such as the Maltese national football team's competitive home and away matches, including direct coverage for the Maltese national football team competitive home matches,the final and semi-final games of the UEFA Cup and Champions' League, and the opening ceremony, the opening game, the quarter-finals, the semi-finals and the final of the FIFA World Cup and UEFA European Football Championship.
This mechanism of public access to major events ensures that society is not split into groups with different levels of access based on means. The acquisition of certain exclusive broadcasting rights is not prohibited but, rather, the exercise of those rights is regulated.
Ultimately, the choice of which major events are made accessible freely to all, rests on the member state drawing up such list. This list will automatically be respected by all the EU member states.
• Dr Grech is an associate with Guido de Marco & Associates and heads its European law division.