Bernd Holznagel

IPTV — Eine medienrechtliche Einordnung

Im Mittelpunkt der Konvergenzentwicklung auf den Medienmarkten stehen derzeit Fernsehen und Internet, deren Verschmelzung durch die Technologie „IPTV“ (Internet Protocol Television) absehbar ist. Durch die rasante Steigerung der Bandbreiten marktublicher Internetverbindungen sind DSL-Netze neben Terrestrik, Kabel und Satellit zum vierten Rundfunkubertragungsweg geworden. Die Ruckkanalfahigkeit der IPTV-Ubertragung ermoglicht neue interaktive Fernsehdienste, einen komfortablen Konsum von Abrufangeboten (Video-on-Demand), die Verbreitung eigener TVKanale im Stile von YouTube sowie neue Formen der Werbung („kontextsensitive Werbung“).1

The EU ‘open Internet access’ regulation and its impact on the digital press

The long-awaited European Union ‘open Internet access’ regulation only hesitantly embraces the fiercely contested principle of net neutrality (equal treatment of Internet traffic). The debate has so far focused on the providers of audiovisual content as the most data-intensive form of service, while overlooking other providers similarly dependent on the Internet as their channel of distribution. This article focuses on one such provider, the digital press, and assesses the impact of the regulation on its essential public watchdog function.

Sicherung der Netzneutralität

ZusammenfassungDie Geschichte des Internets ist eine Erfolgsgeschichte. Dieser Erfolg beruht u.a. auf einer neutralen Datenübermittlung, die dadurch gekennzeichnet ist, dass Netzbetreiber Datenpakete von und an ihre Kunden unverändert und gleichberechtigt übertragen, unabhängig davon, woher diese stammen und welche Anwendungen die Pakete generiert haben. In jüngster Zeit werden Forderungen nach Verkehrsregelungen im Internet lauter. Begründet wird diese Initiative mit einer drohenden Netzüberlastung, die durch die wachsende Popularität von Videoangeboten wie YouTube oder Streaming-Angeboten wie Hulu entsteht. Kritiker befürchten, dass durch den Einsatz neuer Netzwerkmanagementtechniken die Innovationsoffenheit und die freie Kommunikation im Internet gefährdet werden. Der Beitrag analysiert die Möglichkeiten und Grenzen der Gewährleistung von Netzneutralität durch das deutsche Telekommunikations- und Medienrecht.

Rahmenbedingungen von Kooperationen

Zu prufen ist des Weiteren, welche rechtlichen Vorgaben die Kommunen beachten mussen, wenn sie zum Aufbau einer Breitband-Infrastruktur eine Kooperation mit einer Telekommunikationsgesellschaft eingehen wollen. In Betracht kommen Kooperationen im Rahmen einer sogenannten Nachfragebundelung (hierzu 12.1) sowie hinsichtlich der Durchfuhrung von Tiefbaumasnahmen (hierzu 12.2) oder bei der Verlegung von Leerrohren (hierzu 12.3). Zudem verdient die Vereinbarung eines Wettbewerbsverbotes in den Kooperationsvereinbarungen ebenso besondere Betrachtung (hierzu 12.4) wie die Frage moglicher Burgschaften und Investitionszuschusse (hierzu 12.5).

Explorative case studies on FTTH infrastructure roll-out projects

Today, almost 85% of worldwide FTTH/B subscribers are located in Asia. Around the world, several local fiber broadband initiatives and projects were launched in the past few years. Fiberevolution.com lists more than 450 planned projects, and a project overview is provided in Appendix 10. The majority of these fiber broadband projects – either already deployed or in development – are located in large, populationdense cities or small municipalities and villages. As we focused on rural fiber deployment projects, a major analysis task was the identification and data collection of fiber roll-out projects in rural areas. How data collection and case selection was pursued is explained in Chapter 5. In order to make the analysis more transparent and to display major analysis outcomes, selected FTTH projects will be presented as detailed case studies. These cases will be analyzed according to the evaluation method presented in Chapter 5.3. Information from the cases will be aggregated and evaluated in the next chapter.

The shortcomings of the case studies

The selected case studies already provide an astonishing overview of the success stories of rural FTTH broadband. In almost every case, the investment in rural FTTH might eventually not ex ante have fulfilled the return expectations of the private market participants. However, the high level of broadband penetration after FTTH became available proves the demand from the population in these areas.

The effectiveness of infrastructure delivery models

The effectiveness of fiber infrastructure deployment is a significant measure in this study.

Relevance of broadband

Telecommunications are realizing humanity’s archetypal dream of overcoming spatial distances. More than hundred years after the telephone was invented by Friedrich Reiss, media, telecommunications and IT are merging into one another. Broadband is now taking matters to the next level.

The mechanisms of infrastructure enforcement

Public infrastructure delivery has included streets, water, sewerage, energy and telecommunications. In many countries (e.g., the US and in Europe), telecommunication has been a state monopoly for a very long time. Communication and postal services were controlled by government authority and often operated by the state. After the US (1982), the UK (1984) and Japan (1985), the liberalization process in Europe began to transform the telecommunications state monopoly into a competition-based market environment. The state-owned telecommunication operators were detached from the government and took on a life on their own in liberalized markets with the goal of free, market-based competition. Europe’s state-controlled regulation and regulatory policies seek to establish a self-sustainable and competition-based market, and efficient resource allocation in order to maximize the consumer benefits to consumers. This is the case in general and within telecommunications. Economically, broadband can be considered from two perspectives: The perspective of public good (where a specific level of area-wide broadband access is guaranteed to each citizen by the state) and the competition-based perspective (of network effects and market externalities).

Conclusions of legal considerations

It is possible for municipalities/districts, towns and villages (hereafter: municipalities) to actively promote broadband infrastructure development. However, whether or not this is legal should first be determined.