Summary
Recent Rulings of the European Court of Justice
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Extract
VT4 Ltd. v. Vlaamse Gemeenschap: Court of Justice ruling heralds new age of European broadcast and advertising deregulation.
I. INTRODUCTION
VT4 Ltd. v. Vlaamse Gemeenschap (VT4) is the latest in a series of European Court of Justice (ECJ) decisions announcing the end of strict national regulation of television markets in EC Member States. VT4 clarifies the earlier ECJ decision, Commission v. United Kingdom, which held that broadcasters come under the jurisdiction of the state in which they are established. In so doing, VT4 sharpens the distinction that Commission v. Belgium and the Joined Cases E8/94 and E9/94 have drawn between EC Member State's regulatory obligations under Articles 2 and 3 of the EC Television Directive. Although the Television Directive purports to require only minimal deregulation, the ECJ has left EC countries little alternative other than to embark upon wholesale deregulation of national television broadcast and advertising markets. This deregulation inevitably extends far beyond even the minimal provisions contained in the Television Directive and heralds a resounding victory for proponents of a single broadcast market in Europe. II. FACTS AND HOLDING VT4 arose from Belgium's (the Flemish Community) refusal to grant VT4 Ltd. permission to broadcast television programming on Flemish cable networks.(1) VT4 Ltd. is a television broadcasting company established and licensed in London under British law.(2) The company operates a branch office in Flanders, where it conducts advertising negotiations. Since February 1, 1995, VT4 Ltd. has broadcast programs via satellite from the UK exclusively to the Dutch-speaking Flemish public in Belgium.(3) VT4 Ltd.'s attempt to access the Belgian cable network directly challenged the cable monopoly that Belgium's Cultural Ministry had previously granted to the privately owned Vlaamse Televisie Maatschappij NV (VTM). Under...See the full content of this document
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