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On 22 July, the Bundeskartellamt (Federal Cartels Office) announced that, from a competition point of view, there was no reason to prevent co-operation between Deutsche Telekom AG (DTAG) and housing companies in connection with the development of the level 4 cable network (connecting the boundary of the individual house to a connection point inside the house). According to the co-operation model, Kabel Deutschland GmbH (KDG), a subsidiary of DTAG, will take responsibility for upgrading the cable networks on behalf of housing companies. Although the housing industry will continue to provide cable...

In mid-July 2002, the independent Monopolkommission (Monopolies Commission) submitted to the Bundeswirtschaftsministerium (Federal Ministry of the Economy) its 14 major report, entitled "Netzwettbewerb durch Regulierung" (network competition through regulation). One particular chapter deals with network access arrangements and proposes practical measures for future regulation of this area. A particularly significant recommendation is that a cross-sectoral regulatory authority be created for railways, energy, telecommunications and postal services in order to counteract effectively the demands made...

In two emergency rulings, the Verwaltungsgericht München (Munich Administrative Court - VG München) had to determine the degree to which the "Freak Show" programme broadcast by music channel MTV and based on the American programme "Jackass" constituted a danger to minors. The relevant supervisory body, the Bayerische Landeszentrale für neue Medien (Bavarian New Media Office - BLM), had banned the repeat showing of six programmes which had already been broadcast and were deemed to be obviously capable of seriously endangering minors. It had also restricted the showing of further episodes to the...

In a decision of general principle, the Bundesgerichtshof (Federal Supreme Court - BGH) has ruled that the socalled "press review privilege" described in Section 49.1 of the Gesetz über Urheberrechte und verwandte Schutzrechte (Act on Copyright and Related Rights - UrhG) also applies to electronic press reviews under certain conditions. This means that, if those conditions are met, the copyright collecting company Wort (VG Wort) may also demand the statutory fees from publishers of electronic press reviews. The plaintiff in the legal dispute to which the judgment referred was a daily newspaper,...

At the end of July, the Verwaltungsgericht Berlin (Berlin Administrative Court - VG) issued an important decision concerning the switch-over to digital broadcasting. Its ruling contains guidelines on how users might be expected to keep up with technical advances in relation to the switch from analogue to digital transmission. The dispute between the European cultural channel ARTE and the Medienanstalt Berlin-Brandenburg (BerlinBrandenburg Media Authority - MABB) concerned the broadcaster's right to analogue transmission capacity within the broadband cable network for its afternoon programmes which...