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At their meeting at the end of March 1997, the Minister-Presidents of the Länder (the federal states) discussed the question of exclusive live broadcasting of sports events of particular interest to the public by pay-TV. They talked with sport organisers, holders of rights, and private and public broadcasters. The meeting resulted inter alia in agreement that the question of exclusive coverage rights should preferably be settled by means of voluntary agreements among the parties concerned, with consideration being given to a reasonable proportion of basic supply. In this connection reference was...

In Germany price-fixing agreements are theoretically prohibited under cartel law (Section 15 of the Act against restraints on competition (Gesetz gegen Wettbewerbsbeschränkungen - GWB)). According to Section 16 of the GWB the only exceptions to this are the products of publishing houses. In the present computer age an increasing quantity of literature of all kinds is now appearing on CD-ROM, thereby raising the question of whether at law these electronic publications should be treated as books and thus included in price-fixing. In its decision of 11 March 1997, the cartel panel of the Federal...

In a decision of 26 February 1997, the Federal Constitutional Court (Bundesverfassungsgericht - BVerfG) declared the obligation of private broadcasters to keep records of their broadcasts for the purpose of broadcasting supervision and under specific conditions to submit such records to the regional media authority (Landesmedienanstalt) as the supervisory body compatible with the guarantee of the freedom of broadcasting contained in Article 5, paragraph 1(2) of the Basic Law (Grundgesetz - GG). The decision by the BVerfG was in response to an appeal on a point of constitutionality brought by a...

As the leading cable network operator in Germany, Deutsche Telekom AG has the largest cable network in Europe at its disposal. Extensions to the network mean that there are hyperband channels free which have not been in use for years. For economic reasons, the company prefers to allocate the new cable space to digital TV operators, as relatively high profits are expected in this field. At present DeutscheTelekom AG receives only connection charges from viewers and fees from broadcasting companies for carrying programmes which are below the profit level of digital television. The company's cable...

The guideline on broadcasting time for third parties, adopted in January by the Conference of Directors of Regional Media Authorities, amplifies the provisions of paragraph 31 of the National Broadcasting Agreement (Article 1 of the Agreement on Broadcasting between the Federal States in United Germany), as modified by the third Agreement between the Federal States to amend the Agreements on Broadcasting of 26.08. -11.09.1996. The guideline, which is based on Article 33, sentence 1, of the Agreement, is above all intended to clarify the interpretation of Article 31 of the Agreement, which seeks...