Germany

[DE] Berlin and Brandenburg Public Broadcasting Authorities Merge

IRIS 2002-7:1/16

Alexander Scheuer

Institute of European Media Law (EMR), Saarbrücken/Brussels

On 11 June 2002, the respective governments of the German Bundesländer of Berlin and Brandenburg decided to authorise the merger of the two broadcasting authorities, Sender Freies Berlin (SFB) and Ostdeutscher Rundfunk Brandenburg (ORB). The merger was officially confirmed by the Staatsvertrag über die Errichtung einer gemeinsamen Rundfunkanstalt (Inter-State Agreement on the establishment of a joint broadcasting authorityRBB-StV-E), which was signed on 25 June. The new body will be known as Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (RBB).

The broadcaster's official headquarters will be in Berlin and its director will be based in Potsdam. The authority will be responsible for providing radio and television services and may also offer media services and other services with predominantly programme-related content. It should provide a balanced service for both Länder, bearing in mind regional programming needs. In this respect, the Inter-State Agreement takes into account for the first time the preamble to the 6. Rundfunkänderungsstaatsvertrages (6 Inter-State Broadcasting Agreement), which stipulates that analogue terrestrial broadcasting may be replaced gradually by digital transmission (Articles 2 and 3 of the RBB-StV-E).

The Inter-State Agreement still needs to be approved by the Land parliaments. When the RBB director takes office, no later than 1 June 2003, the transfer of powers will be complete and RBB will take full responsibility for programming (Art. 40 of the RBB-StV-E).