Germany

[DE] ARD, ZDF and CNN to be Available via Internet on T-Home

IRIS 2006-9:1/36

Jochen Fuchs

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

Following the latest contracts agreed with broadcasters ARD/ZDF, CNN, ProSiebenSat1 and RTL concerning their inclusion in the IPTV service T-Home, more than 100 channels are now available via Deutsche Telekom's VDSL high-speed network. The regional channels operated by the public service broadcasters will also be fed into the VDSL network, which enables Deutsche Telekom to offer "triple play", ie bundled Internet, telephone and television services. Telekom has invested more than EUR 3 billion in the new network, which will be available in 50 cities by the middle of next year. Viewers do not have to pay any subscription fee for ARD and ZDF. The Digital Rights Management system incorporated in the Microsoft software used by Telekom is not applied to the ARD and ZDF channels. The public service broadcasters believe their presence on this new platform marks an important step on the road to the digital future. CNN is planning, as well as its round-the-clock news channel, to make documentaries and magazine programmes available on-demand, but will not charge viewers for this service. The RTL group is also represented in Deutsche Telekom's IPTV service, with RTL Television, Vox, RTL II, Super RTL, n-tv and digital special interest channel Traumpartner TV all included. However, as well as the existing free TV channels, pay-TV services will also be introduced. RTL has already signed agreements with Telefonica, Telekom Austria and Hansenet concerning IPTV cable retransmission via DSL.

Telekom's optical fibre network is not without its controversies. The German legislature wishes to exempt the expensive VDSL network from the regulations for a limited period. However, the European Commission strongly opposes such an exemption, which is being labelled a "regulation holiday", and has threatened to take the matter to the European Court of Justice.