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Private TV broadcaster SAT.1 and the Länder (State) of Bremen and Lower Saxony are planning to step up their co-operation in the field of film production. Under an agreement that was largely negotiated at the beginning of August, three films are to be produced over the next three years at an overall cost of up to DEM 9 million, two-thirds of which will be provided by SAT.1 and one-third by the two Länder. The main aim of the agreement is to boost the number of contracts awarded to production companies based in the Länder concerned. An investigation into whether and how regional laws on film subsidies...

The Hessen state authority for commercial broadcasting (LPR Hessen), which is responsible for monitoring the programmes of private broadcaster RTL-2, has complained that an episode of the TV show Big Brother contained illegal surreptitious advertising. On 16 May 2000, an episode of the controversial TV programme Big Brother, in which several volunteers are confined in a building cut off from the outside world and monitored round the clock by cameras and microphones (see IRIS 2000-3: 7), showed these people building a model railway. The manufacturer's name, which appeared in unusually large characters...

On 3 July 2000, a user of the Offener Kanal Berlin (Berlin Open Channel) was permanently banned from using the channel by the Media Council of the Berlin-Brandenburg Media Authority (MABB) after repeatedly using it to disseminate right-wing extremist material. The person concerned was responsible for Radio Germania, which had broadcast a total of fourteen times on the Offener Kanal Berlin since 1996. He had been banned from the channel for one year in 1997 for disseminating material liable to corrupt young people. The Media Council based its decision to ban the broadcaster permanently on Section...

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...