German VOD Proposal Blocked by Regulator

MAINZ: The VOD project known as Germany's Gold—a proposition from ZDF Enterprises, several commercial arms of pubcaster ARD and indie producers and distributors such as Beta Film and Brainpool—has been blocked by the German Cartel Office.

The joint venture was supposed to offer Internet users high-quality content, which would be sourced from the participating partners. It would have encompassed 60 years of German TV history as well as hit German and international movies.

The German Cartel Office has decided that a common marketing of VOD content could not be realized in its originally planned form, due to the strong market position of ZDF and ARD. It also said that there was no positive economic forecast for alternative models that would have fulfilled the conditions demanded by the Federal Cartel Office.

Alexander Coridass, the president and CEO of ZDF Enterprises, said: “It is deplorable that the realization of this ground-breaking and future-oriented project cannot be achieved. It seems that German competition law prevents companies like ZDF Enterprises from playing an active role in the development of VoD markets. In times of the changing use of media, of modified viewer needs and of the fragmentation of offers, it would have been important to have a portal with a focus on German and European content. Nevertheless, we shall continue to pursue our commitment to new technologies and market developments. We have an enormous catalogue of VoD rights, that we acquired independently from ZDF, and we will find new ways to market it.”