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Under a decision of 8 February 2024 in case number I ZR 34/23, the first civil chamber of the German Bundesgerichtshof (Federal Supreme Court – BGH) submitted three preliminary questions to the  Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), requesting clarification of whether a retirement home operator who retransmits radio and television programmes received via a satellite receiver to the home’s residents via a cable network is "communicating to the public" within the meaning of copyright law and should therefore enter into licensing agreements. The three questions...

The Rundfunkkommission (Broadcasting Commission) of the 16 Länder, which are responsible for media regulation in Germany, adopted the key aspects of public service broadcasting reforms at a closed meeting in Bingen am Rhein on 25/26 January 2024. The meeting was held a few days after the publication of a report by the Zukunftsrat (Future Council), an independent panel of experts set up by the Länder to consider the future development of public service broadcasting. The Future Council had been tasked with developing a long-term vision for the future of public service broadcasting and...

On 7 February 2024, the Verwaltungsgericht Hannover (Hanover Administrative Court – VG Hannover) rejected an appeal by the television broadcaster RTL against a complaint lodged by the Niedersächsische Landesmedienanstalt (Lower Saxony state media authority – NLM). The complaint concerned an alleged breach of the requirement for clear visual separation of advertising and programme content during "split-screen" advertising broadcast during an RTL television programme. "Split-screen" advertising for a smartphone, in which editorial content and advertising were...

On 18 January 2024, the Bundestag (German federal parliament) debated the so-called Digitale-Dienste-Gesetz (Digital Services Law), which was tabled by the federal government to implement the Digital Services Act (DSA) at national level, for the first time. While the DSA, which will apply across the EU from 17 February 2024, regulates matters including due diligence obligations for online services in the battle against disinformation and hate speech on the Internet and their enforcement at EU level, the government bill, known as the DDG-E, lays down the relevant responsibilities in Germany. The...

On 14 December 2023, the state parliaments of Berlin and Brandenburg adopted the Staatsvertrag über den Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (state treaty on the Berlin-Brandenburg state broadcasting authority – rbb-Staatsvertrag), which had been signed by Brandenburg on 3 November 2023 and by Berlin on 17 November 2023. Following the exchange of ratification documents, the treaty entered into force on 1 January 2024. The new legal framework for Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (Berlin-Brandenburg state broadcasting authority – rbb) replaces the Staatsvertrag über die Errichtung einer...