European Diary: Television will change radically over the next few years, thanks to controversial new broadcasting legislation being drafted in Brussels.
Under a revised Television Without Frontiers directive, product placement, a common feature in the United States, will be making its official debut on our screens and ad breaks during programmes will occur more regularly.
Television ordered over the web and video on-demand services will be regulated for the first time under the proposed rules, which were supported by a majority of EU culture ministers last week.
EU media commissioner Viviane Reding welcomed agreement on the draft directive, which she said would boost EU broadcasters but not lead to a blizzard of new advertisements.
"We don't want US-style television on European TV screens, with permanent advertising where advertising drives content . . . We want content to drive advertising," said Ms Reding, who is proposing the directive in response to fears from Europe's broadcasters that advertising is shifting to new media platforms such as the internet.The revised directive allows a maximum of 12 minutes an hour for advertisements on television.
However, ad breaks will be allowed to appear more regularly as the existing rule that there can be only one break every 20 minutes will be lifted.
Yet the draft law, which will be voted on by MEPs next month, is causing significant concern among consumer groups and some member states.
"We are against product placement because in our view it is hidden advertising, and this directive is part of a wider process of commercial interests crowding people's lives," says Jim Murray, director of BEUC, an EU consumer group.
"We also wanted to see a ban on advertising that targets children with fatty foods, which isn't there."
"[ Product placement] is an obvious way for broadcasters to bring in revenue, particularly at a time when many viewers are beginning to use personal video recorders to cut out adverts," says Bride Rosney, corporate affairs manager of RTÉ - which must currently outlaw the practice in domestically produced programmes due to existing EU regulations.
Yet despite RTÉ's support for the new directive, the Government is strongly opposed to a central plank of the legislation, the so called "country of origin" principle.
This principle is enshrined in the existing TV Without Frontiers regulation that has been in place since 1989. It stipulates that broadcasters can offer services throughout all 25 EU states, but only need to be licensed in the state in which they are based.
For satellite companies such as Sky, the "country of origin" principle is critical because it allows them to expand their footprint without becoming bogged down in a plethora of national regulations. States such as Ireland and Sweden are vociferously opposed to foreign broadcasters targeting their citizens with advertising that runs counter to national rules protecting children or banning certain products.
"This is a cultural issue for us, not economic," says an official in the Department of Communications. "For example, at the moment British channels can advertise spirits such as whiskey targeted at Irish audiences, yet this is not allowed on Irish channels."
Foreign broadcasters can also circumvent the new Children's Code adopted by the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland in 2005 because they are licensed overseas.
Ireland and Sweden, who are leading the charge against the country of origin principle, have attracted support from states such as Slovenia and Lithuania. But EU diplomats concede they do not have a blocking minority to stop the directive.
Culture ministers did however agree to scrap one part of the commission's proposed directive - an insistence that the independence of national media regulators should be guaranteed under the legislation.
Just two states, Latvia and the Netherlands, supported the proposal, which Ms Reding describes as "an essential element of a free and pluralistic media landscape" in Europe.
"The general feel was EU members all have independent regulators and don't need to have this specified by the commission," said the Irish official attending the meeting.
Privately, commission officials fear state control of television in some of the new member states, which are still developing a democratic culture following decades of communist rule.
Talking to journalists on the fringes of the culture ministers' meeting, Ms Reding questioned the trenchant opposition to independent regulation among some ministers.
"We cannot ask China and Belarus to give their media more freedom and on the other hand continue to exercise governmental control over the media at home."
Yet, even in Ireland, State influence over television remains a hot topic, particularly given the Government's current drive to redraft Irish broadcasting laws. RTÉ recently warned that "it would be of serious concern if there was any perception or creation of a State-controlled broadcaster, by commission or omission".
MEPs are expected to try to reinsert this "independence clause" when they vote next month on the directive, a move that would set up an embarrassing debate for cultural ministers when they meet again next year to sign off on the new legislation.