fact finder
Status: 14.11.2022 10:58 a.m
An additional streaming service from ARD costs EUR 4.99 per month. This causes trouble on the Internet, after all, public broadcasting is already financed by contributions. But there are several reasons for the price.
“Despite the broadcasting contribution: ARD takes 5 euros a month for the new app,” headlines the German online portal “GIGA”. At the end of the article it says: “Billions from the radio contribution: Isn’t that enough, ARD?” There is also great excitement in the social networks that ARD offers a paid streaming service – often accompanied by the question of why ARD Plus is not simply financed from the contribution money.
To answer the question, it is important to take a look at the content offered by ARD Plus. The media scientist Michael Haller, scientific director of the European Institute for Journalism and Communication Research (EIJK), also points to this. “ARD Plus is about market-compliant usage offers for productions that are no longer part of the current program and that have been marketed to streaming services under license since 2018, but have now also been offered by ARD via the app for a few weeks. ”
These include, for example, older films from the Tatort series. Because these, like many other contents, may not be offered permanently in the ARD media library – because of the Media State Treaty.
Content of the ARD media library limited in time
The media state treaty states that most content in the ARD media library may only be made available for a certain period of time. This depends on the genre of a product and ranges from a maximum of seven days for major current events to five years for content for children, for example. Some exceptions such as contemporary and cultural history archives may be offered indefinitely.
In addition to the media state treaty, the broadcast-specific rights situation also plays a role in whether and for how long content can be offered in the ARD media library – here, for example, image, music and license rights are relevant. Because the acquisition of rights often costs money – and the amount of the costs also depends on the period of time. ARD Plus is therefore “an additional, voluntary offer,” says Michael Loeb, Managing Director of ARD Plus GmbH.
The broadcasting contribution, on the other hand, is used to finance the public service mandate, i.e. the television and radio programs as well as the online offers of the broadcasters. According to the State Media Treaty, offers that go beyond this may not be covered by the broadcasting fee, but must be commercially refinanced to protect competition on the market.
“A market price has to be paid”
Since ARD Plus is a commercial subsidiary, it is obliged to behave in line with the market and to call up corresponding competitive prices. “Therefore, not only a symbolic price can be asked for the offer, but a market price has to be paid,” says Loeb. The income would finance the editorial and technical costs of the streaming service.
From the point of view of media scientist Haller, this is crucial. “It’s a question of whether the additional income will be offset – and this appears to be the case.” Haller refers to the Commission for Determining Concentration in the Media Sector (KEK), which is responsible for ensuring the diversity of opinion on all German-speaking television programs broadcast nationwide. The KEK also assesses admission procedures for the program event.
No cross-financing possible
The State Media Treaty also stipulates a strict separation between broadcasting and commercial activities. Among other things, this is intended to avoid distortion of competition. “In particular, this is intended to ensure that the commercial activities of the subsidiaries of public broadcasters are not cross-subsidised by the broadcasting fee,” says Loeb.
Haller is therefore in favor of a change in the media state treaty and an associated new regulation of the media library of ARD and ZDF. “You can imagine that the content that is now being marketed via ARD Plus will be part of the future media library.”
So far, ARD Plus was only available from the providers Magenta TV, Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV+, since October 18 it has been an independent streaming service.