Pillars of the new German Interstate Broadcasting Treaty

 The minister presidents of the German federal states largely agreed on the key points for the new Interstate Broadcasting Treaty on Thursday. As reported by Werbewoche (see ), the politicians want to regulate the online activities of the public broadcasters ARD and ZDF more precisely. The heads of government now want to present the catalog of criteria to the EU Commission and discuss it with public and private broadcasters as well as publishers. What is certain is that ARD and ZDF will soon no longer be allowed to offer electronic press. In future, ARD and ZDF will only be allowed to offer broadcast-related content on their websites. Commercial offers such as dating sites, leisure tips or advice services will soon be taboo. The provision of content is also to be limited to seven days. The ministers only want to sign the regulations once the specific guidelines have been drawn up. A final decision is expected in the fall of 2008.
In addition, a negative list was drawn up to prevent commercial exploitation chains - such as cooking programs that not only provide the recipe online, but also the link to buy the cookbook. Recordings of major sporting events should also be allowed to be put online by public broadcasters in the future - albeit for a limited period of 24 hours after the event.
The regulations do not go far enough for the Federal Association of German Newspaper Publishers. In contrast, the German Journalists' Association finds the limits too rigid.