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In early February 2006, the Länder of Schleswig-Holstein and Hamburg agreed a draft inter-state agreement on media law in Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein. A key aspect of the agreement is the creation of a joint media authority for both Länder. This idea was criticised by the Hamburgische Anstalt für neue Medien (Hamburg new media authority - HAM) and the Unabhängige Landesanstalt für Rundfunk und neue Medien (independent regional authority for broadcasting and new media - ULR) in a statement dated 6 March 2006. The statement argued that the role of the joint media authority would essentially be...

Axel Springer AG has appealed to the Oberlandesgericht Düsseldorf (Düsseldorf Court of Appeal - OLG) against the decision of the Bundeskartellamt (Federal Cartel Authority) to prohibit Springer's takeover ofProSiebenSat.1 Media AG (see IRIS 2006-2: 9). According to the appellant, the purpose of the appeal is to obtain the necessary legal certainty for future acquisition procedures. In its opinion, the grounds set out by the Bundeskartellamt for its decision, should they be confirmed by the OLG , would effectively prevent the company from growing in Germany through the acquisition of other companies....

In a ruling of 3 March 2006, the Oberlandesgericht Frankfurt (Frankfurt Court of Appeal) banned the screening of the cinema film with the German title "Rohtenburg" following an appeal for a temporary injunction. The film had been due to be premiered on 9 March 2006. The film "Rohtenburg" (English title: "Butterfly - a Grimm Love Story"), which was described by its distributors as "a real-life horror film that could hardly be more intense and gets under your skin in the truest sense of the word", tells the story of a psychology student who writes a thesis on a homosexual cannibal and researches...

Satellite operator Eutelsat lodged a complaint with the Oberlandesgericht Düsseldorf (Düsseldorf Court of Appeal - OLG) concerning a decision of the Bundeskartellamt (Federal Cartels Office) at the end of 2004. According to the decision, the acquisition of the company Digital Playout Center (DPC), owned by pay-TV provider Premiere, by satellite operator SES Astra (see IRIS 2005-2: 8), had been authorised. Now, in an interim decision of 22 February 2006, the 1. Kartellsenat (1st Cartels Court) of the OLG has invited the Bundeskartellamt to obtain from market participants additional information that...

In a ruling of 23 February 2006, the Landgericht München I (Munich District Court I) declared that certain clauses of a pay-TV provider's general terms of business were invalid and it therefore granted an injunction sought by the Verbraucherzentrale Bundesverband (Federation of German Consumer Organisations - vzbv ). In its terms of business, the pay-TV company concerned, Premiere , had reserved the right "to supplement or expand, for the benefit of subscribers", its range of programmes, individual channels, their use and the composition of programme packages. The court considered this to be an...