176. The Audiovisual Media Services Directive.

The Audiovisual Media Services Directive¹ provides for two tiers of regulation of advertising and sponsorship in relation to broadcasts, according to whether the audiovisual media service² is a television broadcasting service or an on-demand service³. The regulation is intended to be less restrictive in respect of on-demand audiovisual media services than in respect of television broadcasting services⁴. The term 'audiovisual media service' includes 'audiovisual commercial communications'⁵, which means images with or without sound which are designed to promote, directly or indirectly, the goods, services or image of a natural or legal entity pursuing an economic activity⁶. Such images accompany