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Under German law, online product recommendations must be clearly labelled as advertising if news portals receive commission from the sale of the related products. The Landgericht Berlin (Berlin Regional Court) stated this in its ruling of 11 February 2020 in Case no. 52 O 194/18 after Germany’s Verbraucherzentrale Bundesverband (Federation of Consumer Organisations – vzbv) launched proceedings against the media company BuzzFeed. On its news portal’s home page, the company had listed several articles, including one entitled “18 geniale Dinge, die du dir 2018 mit deinem...

On 15 April 2020, the German Bundeskartellamt (Federal Cartels Office) closed its proceedings against the London-based DAZN Group Ltd. and Sky Ltd., who had been suspected of signing anti-competitive agreements for the purchase of football broadcasting rights. Pay-TV broadcaster Sky had bought the full broadcasting rights for the UEFA Champions League for the 2018/19 to 2020/21 seasons before selling some of the matches to the DAZN streaming service under a sublicensing contract. The deal meant that no Champions League matches were broadcast live on free TV. According to the cartels authority,...

On 20 March 2020, the Direktorenkonferenz der Medienanstalten (Conference of Regional Media Authority Directors - DLM) agreed on a pragmatic notification procedure for the live streaming of cultural and religious events and educational programmes during the coronavirus crisis after the competent state authorities in Germany ordered a shutdown aimed at combatting the COVID-19 pandemic. In view of the cancellation of all cultural and religious events and the closure of educational institutions under state measures taken to fight the coronavirus, the live streaming of cultural and religious events...

On 31 March 2020, the Kommission für Zulassung und Aufsicht (Commission on Licensing and Supervision – ZAK) of the Landesmedienanstalten (regional media authorities) issued a broadcasting licence to BILD GmbH for its nationwide linear streaming service BILD Digital Live TV. BILD GmbH, a 100% subsidiary of Axel Springer SE, had applied to the Medienanstalt Berlin-Brandenburg (Berlin-Brandenburg media authority – mabb) for a licence at the end of January 2020. The permanent licence was granted under Article 20a of the Rundfunkstaatsvertrag (Inter-State Broadcasting Agreement –...

On 1 April 2020, the German Federal Gover nment adopted a bill to amend the Netzwerkdurchsetzungsgesetz (Network Enforcement Act – NetzDG). The proposed reforms are designed, on the basis of lessons learned from the application of the Act, to improve users’ rights in relation to unauthorised deletions and account blocking, and to simplify the process for asserting information rights. They therefore supplement the changes proposed in February under the Gesetzentwurf zur Bekämpfung des Rechtsextremismus und der Hasskriminalität (Draft Act to combat right-wing extremism and...