Internet growth cut for broadcasters

In a major setback for ARD and ZDF, Germany's state leaders have agreed to restrict the pubcasters' expanding Internet activities as a result of mounting pressure from the EU Commission. The premiers of Germany's 16 federal states discussed the pubcasters' online activities in Berlin Thursday, and concluded that ARD and ZDF may not operate what they called an independent "electronic press." The EU Commission has long criticized ARD and ZDF's online expansion and demanded that the German government place limits on the pubcasters' Internet activities. Commercial broadcasters and newspapers in Germany also have taken ARD and ZDF to task for their online news operations and have warned they could lead to the formation of an electronic press independent of the pubcasters' TV news programs. As part of an overhaul of the country's broadcasting regulations, the state premiers drew up a list of Internet content they deemed unacceptable from the pubcasters, including commercial links -- for example, a website to a TV cooking show may list recipes, but may not include a link to purchase cookbooks. Entertainment programming produced for the Internet was also targeted.
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