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In a decision announced on 6 September 1999, the Bundesverfassungsgericht (German Constitutional CourtBVerfG) rejected a complaint lodged by the owner of a hotel and conference centre against the duty to pay the television licence fee. The case was taken to the Constitutional Court after the broadcasting company Süddeutscher Rundfunk decided to charge the licence fee for each of the hotel's 114 television sets. The complainant's initial appeal and proceedings brought before the Administrative Court both failed. She claimed that the decision breached the basic right to freedom of information (Article...

The Bayerische Landeszentrale für Neue Medien (Bavarian State Central Office for New Media - BLM) has banned the German sports channel DSF from broadcasting virtual advertising (see also IRIS 1999-4: 14). DSF risks being fined if it repeats the offence. During a football match shown on 10 August 1999, DSF broadcast, for the first time, virtual logos and products in the centre circle of the pitch and either side of each goal. The BLM claims that virtual advertising, i.e. the superimposing of electronic advertisements on a real picture, is incompatible with §7.3 of the current Rundfunkstaatsvertrag...

In its judgement of the 16th June 1999 the Bundesverwaltungsgericht (Federal Administrative CourtBVerwG ) dismissed the appeal by the Bayerische Landeszentrale für neue Medien (Bavarian State Central Office for New Media - BLM) against the ruling of the Bayerischer Verwaltungsgerichtshof (Bavarian Administrative Court - VGH) The VGH had found that the BLM had made the wrong decision concerning the application of the appellant, a local radio broadcaster, to be allowed to continue to broadcast under a frequency splitting arrangement or on its own frequency. Initially, with a view to improving the...

Two years after the Informations- und Kommunikationsdienstegesetz (the Information and Communication Services Act - IuKDG) came into force (1 August 1997, see also IRIS 1997-8: 11), the Federal Government has produced a report on experiences and developments concerning the new services covered by the Act in connection with its implementation. The Act aims to establish a reliable foundation in the information and communication services field, to create a balance between free competition, the legitimate needs of the user and the interests of public order, and to promote the economic development of...

A new Landesmediengesetz (media law - LMedienG) was passed in Baden-Württemberg on 19 July 1999. The law takes into account the amendments to the Dritter Rundfunkänderungsstaatsvertrag (the Third Agreement to Amend the Agreement between Federal States on Broadcasting - see IRIS 1996-8: 12), which came into force on 1 January 1997, particularly those concerning the guarantee of diversity. Furthermore, the provisions for the regulation of broadcasting-type communication services, which were no longer needed following the entry into force on 1 August 1997 of the Mediendienstestaatsvertrag (the Agreement...