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In a recently published decision of 22 April 2024 (Case No. 32 K 1/23), the Verwaltungsgericht Berlin (Berlin Administrative Court – VG Berlin) upheld a complaint concerning a breach of the ban on regional advertising lodged by a Landesmedienanstalt (state media authority) against a national television broadcaster. It held that the advertising ban, enshrined in the German Medienstaatsvertrag (state media treaty – MStV), was not unconstitutional. However, a different court had previously found that the ban, which was also the subject of a 2021 European Court of Justice ruling in the...

On 27 May 2024, the Kommission zur Ermittlung der Konzentration im Medienbereich (Commission on Concentration in the Media – KEK), a joint organ of the German state media authorities responsible for guaranteeing plurality of opinion in relation to the organisation of private television channels throughout Germany, published its 25th annual report. In the report, the KEK describes the media concentration investigations and other key areas of work it carried out in 2023, including analysis of the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on media diversity and plurality of opinion and the potential...

On 5 June 2024, the Oberverwaltungsgericht Nordrhein-Westfalen (North Rhine-Westphalia Higher Administrative Court – OVG Nordrhein-Westfalen) decided in an expedited procedure that Westdeutsche Rundfunk (WDR) should invite the leading candidate for the “Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht” (BSW) party, which was taking part in European elections for the first time, to appear in the ARD programme “Wahlarena Europa 2024”. In the programme, broadcast three days before the election, Germany’s leading European Parliament candidates discussed topics related to European...

On 22 May 2024, the German federal government approved a draft amendment to the Gesetz über Maßnahmen zur Förderung des deutschen Films (Act on measures to promote German film – FFG-E). The Federal Government Commissioner for Cultural and Media Affairs (BKM), Claudia Roth, had previously tabled a bill in February (see IRIS 2024-4:1/21). The cabinet draft contains numerous editorial amendments compared with the February bill, e.g. including the use of gender-neutral language. In terms of its content, the cabinet draft extends the remit of the Filmförderungsanstalt...

On 30 April 2024, the Landesmedienanstalten (state media authorities) published its 11th monitoring report on private media accessibility in Germany. The report notes a rise in the number of accessible services. Particular progress has been made in the area of subtitling, while the use of audio description, sign language and plain language remains less common. The report also looks ahead at broadcasters’ plans to improve accessibility in the future. Both the expansion of accessible services and their monitoring by the state media authorities are based on provisions of the Medienstaatsvertrag...