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On 8 October 2009, the European Commission decided to close an infringement procedure against Germany relating to European “must-carry” provisions, as set out in the Universal Services Directive. The Directive forms part of the EU’s Telecoms Package, which is currently under revision. Under the Directive, Member States are obliged to ensure a minimum level of availability and affordability of basic services, as well as a basic set of rights for the benefit of European consumers. According to Article 31, proportionate and transparent “must-carry” rules can be set for clearly defined general interest...

The Kommission für Zulassung und Aufsicht (Licensing and Monitoring Commission - ZAK) has imposed fines totalling EUR 52,000 on several television stations for breaches of the new rules adopted by the Landesmedienanstalten (State Media Authorities) in respect of game shows and competitions (“the GWS rules”). In addition, several proceedings for regulatory offences have been initiated. The GWS rules of 23 February 2009 - in amplification of section 8a of the Rundfunkstaatsvertrag (Inter-State Broadcasting Agreement - RStV) - were the first detailed set of provisions on game shows (see IRIS 2009-3:...

The Verwaltungsgericht München (Munich Administrative Court) has endorsed in several decisions the view of the Bayerische Landeszentrale für Neue Medien (Bavarian Centre for New Media - BLM) and the Kommission für den Jugendschutz in den Medien (Commission for the Protection of Minors in the Media - KJM) that TV programmes in which plastic surgery is marketed for entertainment purposes can have an adverse effect on the development of children and young people. The decisions were in response to appeals by the channel MTV against decisions of the BLM permitting the broadcasting of several episodes...

In a dispute concerning the marketing model for the German football league, the Oberlandesgericht Düsseldorf (Düsseldorf Court of Appeal - OLG) has dismissed on technical grounds the appeal lodged by Deutsche Fußball Liga GmbH (DFL), the company responsible for the operation of the German football league, against a decision by the Bundeskartellamt (Federal Cartel Office - BKartA). The background to the dispute was the plans drawn up by the DFL in the summer of 2008 for the central marketing of the television rights in Bundesliga matches. From the 2009/2010 season onwards, summaries of the Saturday...

In a judgment of 2 September 2009, the Landgericht Düsseldorf (Düsseldorf Regional Court) prohibited the television broadcaster RTL from shooting film footage using a hidden camera in the applicant’s doctor’s surgery, thus upholding the injunction issued by the lower court. In the legal dispute concerned, RTL reporters had made sound and picture recordings at a doctor’s surgery, filming a conversation between the doctor and a person whom he assumed to be a patient but who was actually a reporter. They also filmed the reception area and the staircase leading to the surgery. It was claimed that the...