Gambling Commission Guidance The Gambling Commission has released new guidance acknowledging the increased challenges that businesses in the industry are facing as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The guidance explicitly reminds licensees that: they are expected to follow Public Health guidance; they should assess their ability for continued compliance with their relevant licence conditions … Read more

Earlier this week, the UK’s House of Lords Communications and Digital Committee published its report titled “Public Service Broadcasting: As Vital As Ever“, following its consultation on the impact of Subscription Video-On-Demand (SVOD) services on the UK’s public service broadcasters (PSBs) such as the BBC, Channel 3, Channel 4 and Channel 5.   Amongst other aspects, … Read more

The UK Gambling Commission (“UKGC“) has clarified that video game ‘loot boxes’ and the purchasing of mystery in-game content do not fall within the meaning of ‘gambling’ under current UK legislation. Read more

HSF’s Consumer sector team (including Hayley Brady and James Balfour from our Digital TMT and Sourcing group, alongside members of our IP group) have recently produced a feature article in PLC Magazine on Challenges in the Consumer Sector. This is the first in a series of three articles examining the current issues facing the sector. … Read more

As outlined in our blog post on the implementation of the AVMS directive, legislative amendments to the AVMSD were published in the EU Official Journal and entered into force on 19 December 2018 following lengthy negotiations. The reform seeks to modernise the AVMSD to reflect market consumption and technological changes, largely arising from the merging … Read more

In light of the prevalence of global on-demand and internet content services (such as Netflix, Amazon Prime and YouTube), Ofcom has today announced a range of measures to ensure that the Public Service Broadcasters (PSBs) in the UK remain easy to find on TV guides, there is high quality content for children and teenagers, and … Read more

There is no doubt that the likelihood of a “no-deal” Brexit continues to grow. Against this backdrop, the UK Government has issued a Consultation Document setting out its proposed approach to implementing legislative amendments to the EU’s Audiovisual Media Services Directive (“AVMSD“) into domestic law to modernise the framework for a digital age. Despite the … Read more

The House of Lords Select Committee on Communications has published a report recommending a new approach to, and comprehensive and holistic strategy for, regulating the digital environment. Unsurprisingly the report concludes that the “digital world has not kept pace with its role in our lives” and, in particular, it calls for the establishment of a … Read more