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Media companies ProSieben Media AG and SAT. 1, which operate TV channels ProSieben, Kabel 1, N24 and SAT. 1, are merging to form the largest German television company with a current market share of 24.5%. Between them, the two companies, which have a total of 3,000 employees, achieved a turnover of more than EUR 2 billion and pre-tax profits of around EUR 200 million in 1999. The main shareholder in the new company will be KirchMedia, which will hold 88.52% of the ordinary shares. The merger is still subject to the approval of the companies' own management bodies and the monopolies and media authorities....

In mid-June, the Arbeitsgemeinschaft der öffentlich-rechtlichen Rundfunkanstalten in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (Union of German public broadcastersARD) filed a complaint with the European Court of Justice concerning the European Commission's decision to authorise the partnership between the Kirch Group and Murdoch (BSkyB) in the German pay-TV market. In the document submitted to the Court of First Instance as part of an individual nullity suit in accordance with Article 230.4 of the EC Treaty, the ARD questioned in particular whether the conditions imposed by the Commission were actually...

On 9 June 2000 the Bundestag (Federal Parliament) amended parts of the Gesetz gegen den unlauteren Wettbewerb (Unfair Competition Act - UWG) in order to standardise what is known as comparative advertising. Previously such advertising was not expressly regulated in Germany. In most cases, the courts used to classify comparative advertising as anti-competitive. The amendment transposes European Parliament and Council Directive 97/55/EC of 6 October 1997 into German law. The Directive itself contains individual conditions that must be fulfilled if comparative advertising is to be considered legal....

The Fernabsatzgesetz (Distance Marketing Act), which was adopted on 9 June 2000, entered into force on 30 June 2000. Directive 97/7/EC on the protection of customers in respect of distance contracts (see IRIS 1997-7: 7) was thus transposed into German law (see IRIS 1999-7: 14 concerning the draft Act). The Fernabsatzgesetz (FernAbsG) sets out basic conditions for purchases made via distance communication systems, ie letter, catalogue, e-mail, fax, telephone and broadcasting, telecommunications and media services. According to Article 3 of the Act together with Article 361a of the Bürgerliches...

After hearing the views of those involved and taking into consideration the statements that had been submitted, the Direktorenkonferenz der Landesmedienanstalten (Conference of Regional Media Authority DirectorsDLM) has established rules on freedom of access to digital services on the basis of Article 53.7 of the Rundfunkstaatsvertrag (Agreement between Federal States on Broadcasting). The rules had previously been submitted in draft form on 21 February 2000 (see IRIS 2000-3: 11). The version that was finally adopted also mentioned the unbundling of API (Application Programming Interface) and CAS...