Broadcasting (Short News Reporting) Regulations, 2007

L.N. 198 of 2007

BROADCASTING ACT

(CAP. 350)

Broadcasting (Short News Reporting) Regulations, 2007

IN exercise of the powers conferred by subarticle (1) of article 37

of the Broadcasting Act, the Prime Minister has made the following

regulations>

These regulations may be cited as the Broadcasting (Short

News Reporting) Regulations, 2007, and shall come into force on the

1 st July, 2007.

The Prime Minister is, in terms of article 37 (1) of the

Broadcasting Act, hereby giving directions to the Broadcasting Authority

to conform, through these regulations, with Malta’s international

obligations under article 9 of the Council of Europe’s European

Convention on Transfrontier Television done at Strasbourg on 5 th May

1989, as amended.

(1) The right to short news reporting of an event where

exclusive rights for their television broadcast have been acquired shall

be regulated in terms of this regulation.

(2) For the purposes of this regulation>

“event” means an event of high interest to the public which is

transmitted on an exclusive basis by a primary broadcaster<

“exclusive rights” means the rights acquired by a broadcaster

contractually, from the organizer of an event or the owner of the

premises where the event takes place, the authors or other right

holders, with a view to the exclusive television broadcast of the

event by that broadcaster for a given geographical zone<

“primary broadcaster” means the broadcasting organization

which holds the exclusivity for the television broadcast of an event<

“secondary broadcaster” means any broadcasting organization

wishing to provide information, by means of short reports, on an

event in which the primary broadcaster holds the exclusive rights<

“short report” means brief sound and picture sequences about

an event such as to enable the viewers of the secondary broadcaster

to have a sufficient overview of the essential aspects of such an

event.

(3) In order to enable the public to exercise its right to

information, the property right of the primary broadcaster shall be the

subject of limitations, in accordance with terms and conditions set out

hereafter.

(4) Any secondary broadcaster shall be entitled to provide

information on an event by means of a short report. Such access shall

be granted>

(a) by allowing the secondary broadcaster to freely choose

short extracts from the primary broadcaster’s signal. Unless

impossible for reasons of practicality, the secondary broadcaster

shall identify the source of the extract as originating from the

primary broadcaster< or

(b) by having access to the site to cover the event, for the

purpose of producing a short report>

Provided that the implementation of the provisions of this

sub-regulation shall not be impeded, restricted or delayed by reason

of any claim for charges made by the primary broadcaster or by

the event organiser, as the case may be.

(5) For the implementation of the foregoing arrangements,

the following aspects shall be taken into consideration>

(a) if an organised event is composed of several

organizationally self-contained elements, each self-contained

element shall be deemed to be an event<

(b) if an organised event takes place during several days, it

shall give the right to produce at least one short report for each

day< and

(c) the short report shall be used exclusively by the

secondary broadcaster and only in regularly scheduled news

bulletins.

(6) Short extracts shall not>

(a)

exceed 90 seconds<

(b) be transmitted before the event is concluded or, for sports

events, before the end of a single day’s play, whichever is the

earlier<

(c)

be screened later than 24 hours after the event<

(d) be used to create a public archive<

(e) omit the logo or other identifier of the primary

broadcaster.

(7) The primary broadcaster shall be entitled to appropriate

compensation for technical costs incurred. In any event, no financial

charge shall be required of the secondary broadcaster towards the cost

of television rights.

(8) If the secondary broadcaster is granted physical access

to the site, the event organiser or site owner shall be able to charge the

secondary broadcaster for any necessary additional expenses incurred.

Such charge shall be reasonable.

(9) Where an event organiser or a site owner refuses or

impedes the secondary broadcaster from gaining physical access to the

site, the secondary broadcaster shall be entitled to file an application

with urgency before the Civil Court, First Hall demanding that the event

organiser or site owner be ordered to grant such access forthwith.

Mitbug[ fl-Istamperija tal-Gvern — Printed at the Government Printing Press

Lm0.12 (€0.28)