Germany

[DE] ARD Agrees on Three-Stage Procedure

IRIS 2008-2:1/13

Anne Baranowski

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

The directors and chairmen of the internal bodies of the Landesrundfunkanstalten ( Land broadcasting authorities) agreed on 28 November 2007 on a common procedure for the implementation of the three-stage approval system for new digital services (see IRIS 2007-9: 11). They have therefore met the demands laid down by the European Commission (see IRIS 2007-6: 3 and IRIS 2007-2: 5).

New or significantly amended digital services offered by the Arbeitsgemeinschaft der öffentlich-rechtlichen Rundfunkanstalten der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (association of German public service broadcasters - ARD ) will in future need to be approved by the Broadcasting Council of the responsible authority under a special examination process. It will check: (1) whether the new service is part of the public service remit, (2) whether it contributes to media competition from a qualitative point of view and (3) the associated financial cost. Alongside the Broadcasting Councils of the other eight broadcasting authorities, who will be included in the procedure, the views of market players and third parties will be sought and taken into account. The approval procedure has already been completed for the planned ARD Mediathek .