PRIOR RESTRAINT AND THE REGULATORY STATE: CONCEPTUAL PROPOSALS

Abstract

The recent decision of the Constitutional Court applied to the Digital Terrestrial Television bill has a special interest for the purposes of freedom of speech in Chile. In this case, a provision of the bill imposed a prohibition on the real-time audience measurement system for broadcasting, known as 'people meter online'. The Court upheld in favour of the applicants, a group of MPs representing a quarter of the House. This comment aims to analyze the relationship between prior restraint with the legislative intervention likely to affect the exercise of free speech. It proposes the adoption of principle of content neutrality as a specific test for this fundamental right.