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The European Commission has sent "reasoned opinions" to Germany and Luxembourg. Both these countries have failed to implement Directive 2003/33/EC of 26 May 2003 on the advertising and sponsorship of tobacco products. The two non-compliant EU Member States had already been targeted by the Commission in October 2005, when a "letter of formal notice" was issued to their addresses. If they neglect to comply within two months, they face legal action and, ultimately, a ruling by the European Court of Justice that they have failed to fulfil their obligation to transpose EU legislation. The Commissioner...

The Medienanstalt Berlin-Brandenburg (Berlin-Brandenburg media authority - mabb ) has filed an action for annulment with the Court of First Instance of the European Communities against a decision of the European Commission. The disputed decision challenged the legality of subsidies granted to support the transition to digital terrestrial television (DVB-T) in Berlin-Brandenburg (see IRIS 2006-1: 7). The Commission had decided that the state aid granted by the mabb in order to finance the launch of digital terrestrial television was unlawful under the terms of Article 87.1 of the EC Treaty. The...

The digitisation of cable television in Germany is progressing. In December 2005, after years of negotiations, cable operator Kabel Deutschland GmbH (KDG) and TV broadcaster RTL reached an agreement on the distribution of the channels that make up the " RTL family", ie RTL Television, RTL 2, Super RTL, n-tv and VOX via the so-called Simulcast system. Simulcast means that these channels will, for an interim period, be broadcast in analogue form as well as digitally via cable in the 13 Bundesländer served by KDG. In the meantime, KDG has also signed agreements to carry six other private channels...

On 10 January 2006, the Kommission zur Ermittlung der Konzentration im Medienbereich (Commission on Concentration in the Media - KEK) decided that it could not approve the proposed merger between Axel Springer AG and ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG. The procedures (nos. KEK 293-1 to 293-5), which were submitted to the KEK on 8 and 17 August 2005, concern Springer's buy-out of ProSiebenSat.1 (see IRIS 2005-9: 8). The takeover is also being investigated by the Bundeskartellamt (Federal Cartel Authority), which has already stated that the merger is likely to be prohibited. The KEK acts on behalf of the responsible...

The countrywide development of handheld television is to be launched with pilot projects in Hamburg and Berlin using the DVB-H and DMB standards. With this in mind, the respective Land media authorities, the Medienanstalt Berlin-Brandenburg (Berlin-Brandenburg media authority - mabb) and the Hamburgische Anstalt für neue Medien (Hamburg new media authority - HAM) have invited companies to bid for DVB-H and (in Hamburg) DMB transmission capacities. DVB-H (Digital Video Broadcasting-Handheld) is a standard created by the Digital Video Broadcasting Group for the transmission of TV signals to handheld...