Legal Research

German Court says TV licence needed for online TV viewing

By scott

A couple of years ago I wrote a blog post asking whether under UK law a TV Licence was needed for viewing online and mobile TV in the UK, or whether just possession a mobile device or computer than was capable of receiving TV signals was enough to require you to get a licence. This was at a time where TV cards were still prevalent and things have not moved more to pure online delivery.

Anyway, I was interested to read that in Germany, a court has just ruled that a TV/Broadcasting licence is needed to view television or to listen to radio via the internet. The Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig has ruled in three decisions of (ref.: 6 C 12.09, 6 C 17.09 and 6 C 21.09) that the owners of Internet-enabled PCs have to pay broadcast license fees, just like the owners of a radio or a television. According to the court, Internet-enabled PCs are radio receivers within the meaning of the State Treaty on Broadcast License Fees. Pursuant to the State Treaty, the requirement for the obligation to pay fees is only whether appropriate equipment for receiving is present and not whether the owner actually receives radio or television programs with the computer. Likewise, it is irrelevant whether the PC or device is connected to the Internet.

I should point out that Germany changed their law a few yeara ago to include PC and mobile devices, but exempted them if they were not the primary device. Essentially if you already have a TV or a radio in your house for whcih you are paying the licenec fee, you’re fine. In these cases it was a student and two lawyers (I know I smiled) who were caught out, as the court ruled that in none of these cases were these secondary devices, as none were paying a licence already, so they were liable for payments.

Full post as published by Information Overload on November 01, 2010 (boomark / email).