The State Broadcasting Treaty

Following long discussions among political parties on a possible malign influence by media concentration, with effect of 1.1.1997 Germany's revised 'Rundfunkstaatsvertrag' (State Broadcasting Treaty, SBT) came into force after it had passed the parliaments of the Bundesländer last autumn. Finally, it was agreed that strong German broadcasting companies would be vital to prevent foreign groups from taking over the German market and that therefore the broadcasting legal regime had to be relaxed. Two important changes are the permission of majority shareholdings and the provision of broadcasting time for independent third broadcasters.


Prior to 1997 majority stakes in channels were prohibited. Furthermore a shareholder was only allowed to take an interest in one channel between 25 % and 50 % and in two additional channels up to 25 % each. These limitations have been torn down by the revised SBT. According to section 26 individuals or corporate bodies are now entitled to own as many channels to whatever percentage they want. The only limit is a total market share of 30 %. However, this is a mere theoretical limit since the public channels already account for 40 % of the total market and a 30 % limit therefore equals a 50 % share of the private market. In addition section 28 states clearly that only those participations in channels of more than 25 % will be taken into consideration when the market share of a shareholder gets determined.
This legislative modification has already led to several reactions in the market, in particular by market leaders Bertelsmann and Kirch Group. Bertelsmann's and Audiofina's long prepared merger of their subsidiaries Ufa and CLT came into effect and would not have been allowed before, since the new undertaking has a stake in Germany's biggest commercial TV channel RTL of 85 %. Kirch followed with the acquisition of publisher Springer's 24,5 % in the DSF channel in which he already held another 24,5 %. Springer itself announced that it had acquired 90 % in Aktuell Presse Fernsehen which holds 20 % shares in SAT1, the second placed private channel. Then, with a big bang, Kirch announced that he would take over the majority in SAT1 by purchasing further 15 % of Holtzbrink and 1% of Ravensburger Film und TV, pushing him up to 59 %. However, this plan is heavily opposed by Springer which argues that SAT1's memorandum of association grants a pre-emption right to all the shareholders according to their equity in the channel. In case that Springer would make use of its pre-emption right, Kirch could only increase his influence to 52,6 %.

Further acquisition action can be awaited in the future as there are rumours that French CanalPlus is intending to withdraw its activity in Germany by selling its stakes in VOX (24,9 %) and Premiere (37,5 %). Especially the latter will boost trouble between the two other Premiere shareholders Kirch (25 %) and Bertelsmann (37,5 %).

Another important modification of the SBT is intended to increase plurality of public opinion in an environment of a concentrated TV-market. If a channel proprietor has a market share of 10 % or more he is obliged by section 26 to provide broadcasting time to independent third broadcasters in the area of culture, education or information. As specified in section 31 the provided time-frame has to be at least 260 minutes per week of which 75 minutes have to be prime time between 7 p.m. and 11.30 p.m. The Broadcasting Authorities of the Bundesländer solicit tenders for the broadcasting time and independent broadcasters can apply for it. The Broadcasting Authority then assigns the time to one of the applicants, if possible on friendly terms with the main broadcaster.

The requirement that the third broadcaster has to be independent from the main broadcaster recently caused discussions. The SBT states that the independence is not infringed if the main broadcaster holds a stake up to 25 % in the third broadcaster. In particular doubts arose about sternTV, a popular information programme broadcasted on channel RTL by the third broadcaster dctp. Production company sternTV is owned by Gruner+Jahr which is itself a subsidiary of Bertelsmann, the main shareholder of RTL. The question is now, whether sternTV with regards to these shareholdings can still be seen as independent and is allowed to remain in the third parties time-frame. At the beginning of February the Broadcasting Authorities made a statement that the interlocking of the programme supplier (sternTV) and the main broadcaster (RTL) does not necessarily mean an interlocking between the third broadcaster (dctp) and the main broadcaster. No matter how the decision of the Broadcasting Authority will be in the case of sternTV, this statement will surely have influence on the politics of other broadcasters.

© 1997 by Jens Barkemeyer