Germany

[DE] Länder Prime Ministers’ Review of 2006

IRIS 2007-5:1/8

Alexander Scheuer

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

At the beginning of March 2007 in a joint meeting with Viviane Reding, the European Commissioner responsible for Media and the Information Society, the heads of government of the German Länder presented the argument that the requirements of broadcasting should be adequately and appropriately taken into account in the reform of the series of directives on electronic communication. Accordingly, the goals of promoting cultural and linguistic diversity as well as pluralism in the media (Art. 8 Para. 1 Subpara. 3 RL 2002/21/EG), hitherto already set out in the framework directive, are to be maintained. This approach will also to be borne in mind as far as considerations regarding the reform of frequency regulation are concerned. A purely “market-based” approach with respect to broadcasting capacity would not be implemented. The regulation set out in the universal service directive, according to which Member States are to introduce, or maintain, Must-Carry commitments, must be preserved. The regulation should be adapted with regard to two issues: on the one hand it must apply over and above broadcasting services to offers that serve cultural diversity and secure media plurality, and, on the other, its scope of application must be extended to platform providers. Furthermore, Member States should have the option to subject companies who operate the platforms or networks required for the public diffusion of relevant services to specific requirements, in particular securing non-discriminatory access.