The EU Commission has rejected the Government's desire to regulate television advertising and programmes viewed in Ireland, regardless of where the providers are based.
At a conference at Dublin Castle, the Minister for Communications, Dermot Ahern, said plans to control alcohol advertising would not be as effective if only Irish-based services were regulated.
But the EU Commissioner in charge of broadcasting, Viviane Reding, said the minister's proposal would bring the end of a directive known as 'Television without Frontiers'.
