German newspapers: Lawsuit against ARD's "Tagesschau" app
Eight German newspaper publishers are taking ARD's "Tagesschau" app to court. They see the state broadcaster's online offering as unlawful competition.
On Tuesday, a complaint was filed with the Competition Chamber of the Regional Court of Cologne, said Christian Nienhaus, Chairman of the North Rhine-Westphalia Publishers' Association, at the Medienforum NRW in Cologne.
In addition to the Waz Mediengruppe, of which Nienhaus is Managing Director, the plaintiffs also include Axel Springer Verlag, Süddeutsche Zeitung, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Medienholding Nord, the publishing houses M. DuMont Schauberg and Lensing-Wolff as well as Rheinische Post. The publishers are of the opinion that the text portions offered by the "Tagesschau" in addition to videos and audio contributions compete with the newspapers. Nienhaus argued that such free offerings from the ARD and ZDF broadcasters, which are financed by license fees, were destroying the market for publishers. The broadcasters had already rejected the criticism at the weekend. The "Tagesschau" app is a piece of software that brings the content of the "Tagesschau" online service to smartphones and tablet computers.
Publishers in Switzerland are also criticizing the online offerings of state television. At the end of March, they presented a legal opinion. According to this opinion, SRG's online offering is not part of the public service remit. (SDA)
(Teaser image: Tagesschau.de)
