Forrester, Ian S. --- "Magill Revisited" [2011] ELECD 793; in Govaere, Inge; Quick, Reinhard; Bronckers, Marco (eds), "Trade and Competition Law in the EU and Beyond" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2011)

Book Title: Trade and Competition Law in the EU and Beyond

Editor(s): Govaere, Inge; Quick, Reinhard; Bronckers, Marco

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9780857935663

Section: Chapter 23

Section Title: Magill Revisited

Author(s): Forrester, Ian S.

Number of pages: 15

Extract:

23. Magill revisited
Ian S. Forrester*

Jacques Bourgeois, when last I spotted him, arrived at my house beautifully
dressed and elegantly accompanied (by two good-looking ladies), with
vivacity, polyglot humour and gentle charm. Just a normal encounter with
Jacques. In many, many years, I have seen him pressed and stressed and
challenged, but never less than courteous, interesting, and well-informed.
To say that I was His Lawyer, once, is a point of pride, and to say that `We
Won' is a point of honour. This affectionate essay will tell the Magill story,
warts and all.1 In the process, I will draw your attention, gentle reader, to
the truth that famous cases look easy once they have been decided; and that
once a seed has been sown, it can grow into something huge and surprising.


23.1 THE PHENOMENON

Television broadcasters want to attract viewers, which they do by offering
good programmes at the right times. Today, public service television com-
petes for attention with video games, social networking sites, personal
computers and the many ways of accessing internet content. A satellite dish
can offer hundreds of television channels, but last century, in 1985, viewers
seated in front of a television screen had only a small selection of channels
from which to choose. The BBC weekly magazine, the Radio Times, was the
largest-selling publication in the UK and a substantial source of revenue
for the BBC. It told viewers about BBC radio and television programmes
for the ...