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On 19 December 2008, the Bundesrat (upper house of parliament) approved the fifth amendment to the Filmförderungsgesetz (Film Subsidies Act - FFG), which had already been adopted by the Bundestag (lower house of parliament) on 13 November 2008. The most important changes concern the shortening of blocking periods for the media exploitation of films, the inclusion of new forms of exploitation, such as video-on-demand (VoD) and changes to the system of support for reference films and short films. In addition, so-called "media obligations" in the TV sector will be increased in the form of advertising...

On 13 January 2009, the Federal Government's Coalition Committee reached an agreement on the details of the so-called "second economic package", which was due to be approved on 18 February 2009. One aspect of the package is a comprehensive broadband strategy, designed to drive forward the expansion of broadband, fill in supply gaps and support the development of high-performance wired and wireless networks. The broadband strategy focuses particularly on the use of digital dividends, measures to reduce investment costs, aspects of funding and regulation relating to investment and growth. Decisions...

According to a decision of the Niedersächsische Oberverwaltungsgericht (Lower Saxony Higher Administrative Court - OVG) in Lüneburg, the television broadcaster RTL breached human dignity with a report on the ill-treatment of a helpless old man (case no. 10 LA 101/07). The Verwaltungsgericht Hannover (Hanover Administrative Court) had previously upheld a decision taken by the Niedersächsische Landesmedienanstalt (Lower Saxony State Media Authority - NLM) against RTL due to a breach of human dignity (see IRIS 2007-3: 11). During various news and magazine programmes on 1 December 2004, RTL had broadcast...

On 3 December 2008, the Rechtsausschuss (Legal Affairs Committee) of the Bundestag (lower house of parliament) approved the draft Gesetz zur Neuordnung der Entschädigung von Telekommunikationsunternehmen ( TK-Unternehmen ) für die Heranziehung im Rahmen der Strafverfolgung (Act on the reform of compensation for telecommunications companies providing assistance with criminal prosecutions - TKEntschNeuOG). Under the Act, companies will in future be entitled to flat rate compensation payments for costs they incur when carrying out surveillance orders and disclosing call or location data. The Act does...

After lengthy negotiations (see IRIS 2008-10: 9), the Minister-Presidents of the Länder officially signed the 12th Rundfunkänderungsstaatsvertrag (Agreement amending the Inter-State Broadcasting Agreement - RÄStV) on 18 December 2008. The deadline for implementation of the three-stage test for existing telemedia services was brought forward by five months to 31 August 2010. This step was criticised by the public service broadcasters, along with the fact that some parts of the agreement go further than the requirements of the European Commission, such as the stipulation that sports broadcasts can...