Germany

[DE] Dispute on the Use of Premiere Decoders

IRIS 2006-5:1/16

Max Schoenthal

Berlin

According to press reports, on 7 April 2006 the Landgericht Dortmund (Dortmund District Court) rejected an application by Unity Media for a temporary injunction which would have given it the right to use the decoders of pay-TV provider Premiere.

The case was brought following the acquisition of broadcasting rights for the German football Bundesliga by pay-TV provider Arena, a subsidiary of Unity Media (see IRIS 2006-4: 11).

Premiere AG, which had owned the rights until the current season, had cancelled an existing agreement with Unity Media, which had enabled viewers to receive programmes broadcast by Unity using Premiere decoders. In order to broadcast Bundesliga matches, Arena must therefore develop its own decoder or reach a new agreement with Premiere concerning the use of the existing decoders. Otherwise, Premiere could also prevent the reception of other Unity programmes via its own set-top boxes.