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9h ago

Germany’s Administrative High Court to Rule Today on Court Review of Public Broadcasters’ Diversity Mandate

A decision in a Bavarian fee-refusal case could set the criteria for when alleged lack of opinion diversity can be tested before administrative courts.

Außenansicht des Bundesverwaltungsgerichts in Leipzig.
Das Bundesverwaltungsgericht urteilt zum Rundfunkbeitrag. Geklagt hat eine Frau aus Bayern, die das Angebot der öffentlich-rechtlichen Sender nicht ausgewogen findet. Es geht um die Frage, ob Gerichte das Programm bei solchen Klagen prüfen müssen.

Overview

  • The Bundesverwaltungsgericht in Leipzig is scheduled to announce its judgment at 14:00, focusing on whether administrative courts may examine compliance with the broadcasters’ diversity remit in fee disputes.
  • The plaintiff, a woman from Bavaria, refuses to pay the Rundfunkbeitrag, alleging a structural failure by ARD, ZDF and Deutschlandradio to ensure sufficient plurality and balance.
  • Lower courts in Munich and at the Bavarian Higher Administrative Court dismissed her claim, directing such program complaints to the broadcasters’ supervisory body, the Rundfunkrat.
  • Judges signaled any judicial test would carry a high evidentiary bar and clarified that the ruling will not revisit the overall legality of the broadcasting fee.
  • Separately, a planned ‘objection model’ to streamline future fee adjustments has stalled after Bavaria and Saxony-Anhalt withheld consent and Saxony held off signing, with the constitutional complaint by the broadcasters not expected to be decided this year.