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On 12 April 2006, the Bundeskartellamt (Federal Cartels Office) decided to allow RTL Television GmbH Deutschland (RTL)to acquire sole ownership of news channel n-tv Nachrichtenfernsehen GmbH & Co. KG (n-tv). In February, the Bundeskartellamt had expressed reservations about the planned takeover on the grounds that it would protect and strengthen the collective dominant market position held by the Luxembourg-based RTL Group and ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG in the television advertising market. According to the Cartels Office President, this threat to competition remains. However, investigations had shown...

On 22 February 2006, the Bundesnetzagentur (Federal Networks Office - BNetzA) published a draft market definition and analysis for broadcasting transmission services (Market no. 18 in the Commission Recommendation). The BNetzA is responsible for regulating the electricity, gas, telecommunications, postal and railway networks. In Recommendation 2003/311/EC on relevant product and service markets within the electronic communications sector liable for ex ante regulation, the European Commission had recommended that the national regulatory authorities analyse the identification of various markets,...

The Kommission zur Ermittlung der Konzentration im Medienbereich (Commission on Concentration in the Media - KEK) has raised no objections to the granting of a broadcasting licence to Arena. This decision was announced on 12 April 2006. However, the KEK added that Arena's parent company, Unity Media, would have to be monitored in order to ensure that this combination of content provision and network operation did not form an obstacle to other pay-TV providers. When the broadcasting rights for the football Bundesliga were sold, Arena had been awarded the pay-TV rights, leaving the previous rightsholder,...

After the ruling on the lottery by the German Bundesverfassungsgericht (Constitutional Court - BVerfG), interested parties are now debating its consequences for advertising law. The Landesmedienanstalten ( Land media authorities), as the regulators of private broadcasting, are currently discussing the different versions of the ruling with private broadcasters. In its decision of 28 March 2006, the Bundesverfassungsgericht had ruled that the state's sports betting monopoly in the Bundesland of Bavaria was incompatible with the basic right to the freedom of occupation. Under the Gesetz über die vom...

The Landgericht Hamburg (Hamburg District Court - LG ) ruled in a recently published judgment that operators of Internet forums are responsible for illegal content posted on their fora from the moment it becomes accessible to the public rather than when it is actually read. The defendant in the case at hand was the on-line news service Heise , which regularly publishes articles relevant to the IT sector and operates Internet fora in which readers can post their views on current issues. Following an article concerning the business practices of a particular company, several forum participants had...