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On 9 November 1995, political agreement was reached on a general approach to the regulation of telecommunications in Germany, when monopolies are abolished on 1 January 1998. This marks a significant contribution towards speeding up the procedure for adoption of the new Telecommunications Act (TKG). The new Act is designed to ensure that, during the transition from monopoly to competition, market newcomers are given ample opportunities to exert their influence, and dominant service providers prevented from abusing their power. The intention is to allow viable competition to develop. There will,...

Deutsche Telekom AG's online service has blocked access to a specific WWW address on the Internet. This address belongs to an online-provider operating from Santa-Cruz in Canada. In addition to information on a woman singer and a club, material provided by a Canadian-German neo-nazi in Toronto is available from this address. Deutsche Telekom AG considers that this material constitutes incitement to hatred within the meaning of Article 130 of the Criminal Code. The standard terms and conditions of T-Online and the Telecommunications Decree (TKV) offer no explicit means of preventing the dissemination...

The lawfulness of the H.O.T. teleshopping channel has already been disputed several times in the German courts ( see IRIS 1995-9:13, IRIS 1996-1:5). H.O.T. was initially authorised to broadcast on cable in Bavaria, and was later able to reach a national audience via satellite. RTL plus Fernsehen GmbH & Co KG (the applicant) tried to stop the programme from being shown on cable in Bavaria by seeking a provisional injunction from the Bavarian Administative Court, ordering the licensing authority (BLM) to prohibit provisionally the teleshopping programmes being fed into the Munich and Nuremberg...

The Administrative Court in Frankfurt-am-Main recently upheld the decision of the regional Private Broadcasting Authority of Hesse forbidding the private television channel RTL 2 to show the "World Wrestling Federation" programme before 21.00. In so doing, it gave protection of the young priority over the interests of the broadcaster. RTL 2s appeal against this decision was rejected by the Administrative Court of Appeal in Kassel. The court considers showing of the "wrestling programme" in the afternoon (16.00-17.00) a danger to young people. The decision is based on Section 21, sub-section 2,...

The interpretation of the concept of broadcasting has been the subject of discussion in Germany for some time (see IRIS-6:9). At the heart of the problem is the treatment of the new media. Broadcasting is defined in Article 2 of the Agreement on Broadcasting between the Federal States in United Germany (RStV) as presentation and dissemination to the general public of performances of any kind in words, sound or pictures using electrical vibrations with a conductor or without a connecting conductor. This raises the problem of the position of multi-media services. In particular there is the question...