Media broadcast

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Media Broadcast GmbH

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legal form GmbH
founding February 15, 2008
Seat Cologne , GermanyGermanyGermany 
management Arnold Stender, Chairman of the Management Board , Alexander Borgwardt
Number of employees 689 (December 31)
sales 292 million euros
Branch Data, image and sound transmission
Website www.media-broadcast.com
As of December 31, 2015

Media Broadcast is based in the KölnKubus in Cologne-Deutz

The Media Broadcast GmbH , based in Cologne is the largest German provider of voice and video traffic; the company has been part of the listed Freenet Group since 2016 .

history

Media Broadcast Ost, in Schwerin

The company's origins go back to 1919, when the state declared the Ministry of Post to be the central authority for telecommunications. With the beginning of broadcasting in 1923 , the Deutsche Reichspost operated all broadcast transmission systems in the German Reich . After the Second World War, the western occupying powers founded state-independent broadcasting companies , which to this day largely operate their broadcasting systems themselves. In 1960, with the planned introduction of a second television program ( ZDF ) and a nationwide radio program ( Deutschlandfunk ), the question arose of who is responsible for their broadcast. In the 1st broadcasting judgment , the Federal Constitutional Court found that the state alone is responsible for telecommunications and thus also for broadcasting systems. The Deutsche Bundespost accordingly operated all transmitters built since 1961, including those of the third television programs of the state broadcasting corporations established from 1964 .

In addition to channels for ZDF, the third programs, Deutschlandfunk and Deutsche Welle , the Bundespost also took over the broadcasting operations for the military channels AFN and BFBS at individual locations . In the mid-1980s, the establishment of terrestrial networks for the newly established private radio and television broadcasters began. With the reunification , the transmission systems of the GDR were transferred to the Deutsche Bundespost. In the new federal states, she took over the broadcasting operations for the MDR (Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia), the ORB (Brandenburg) and the NDR (Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania). The voice of Russia was also used by broadcasting facilities such as Sender Zehlendorf or Sender Burg from Media Broadcast. Since the start of DAB + on August 1, 2011, Media Broadcast has operated the only nationwide DAB block (also known as the federal mux ).

With the privatization of Deutsche Bundespost in 1995, these tasks were transferred to Deutsche Telekom AG as its legal successor. From 2001 the broadcasting division belonged to the subsidiary T-Systems , where it was run as a separate division Media & Broadcast . In preparation for a sale, this was spun off on June 1, 2007 to T-Systems Media & Broadcast GmbH (M&B). In January 2008, the M&B was merged with the French network operator Télédiffusion de France (TDF) ; since February 15, 2008 it has been operating as Media Broadcast GmbH.

From January 1, 2016, Media Broadcast received competition for the first time in the market for the operation of VHF transmitters after the Federal Network Agency issued a regulatory order against the company.

On March 3, 2016 it was announced that the Freenet AG intends mobilcom-debitel Media Broadcast through its 100% subsidiary group without the field of satellite for 295 million euros of four financial investors led by Texas Pacific Group (TPG) to take over . In April 2015, the then new shareholders of TDF, the financial investors around TPG, had separated Media Broadcast from the previous owner TDF due to a lack of interest in the business in Germany, with the intention of selling it.

In January 2018, Media Broadcast sold its approximately 1,000 VHF antennas to a few market participants, mainly to the five companies Aeos Infrastruktur GmbH (Guido Fiebes), Solingen, Baum Broadcast GmbH (Ute Baum), Idar-Oberstein, Deutsche UKW Infrastruktur- und Vermarktungs GmbH ( Axel C. Krieger ), Bad Kreuznach, KIO Vermögensverwaltungs GmbH (Martin Pickert), Munich and MILACO GmbH ( Axel Sartingen ), Cologne. This was followed by an escalation about the continued operation of the antennas, since competitors accuse Media Broadcast of only wanting to circumvent the regulation with the sale. In April 2018, the managing director of Media Broadcast GmbH, Wolfgang Breuer, threatened to switch off large parts of the German FM supply on April 11, 2018 in the daily newspaper Die WELT. This led to a strong media response with criticism from various sides, including a. also the DGB. In addition, there was the accusation that "the VHF infrastructure, which largely originated from the days of the Federal Post Office, had been turned into a mere object of speculation" and it was noted that "private and public radio broadcasters and their service providers are being blackmailed".

Controversy

As a provider of broadcasting services with a practically monopoly position, there were and are repeated differences with customers and other market participants. In particular, the financing of the nationwide DAB + expansion repeatedly leads to disputes with the radio broadcasters involved.

The liberalization of the FM market is also generating hard disputes, including injunctions against Media Broadcast. This in turn threatens to discontinue the FM broadcasting business. In October 2015, the managing directors of alster radio stated in an open letter that their station was threatened because the costs of broadcasting would almost triple. The reason for this is a possibly abusive pricing by the Deutsche Funkturm and the Media Broadcast.

In April 2016, the Federal Network Agency opened proceedings against Media Broadcast for abusive behavior by a company with considerable market power. In an opinion debate in August 2016, the Federal Network Agency demanded "sanctions" against Media Broadcast, described its services as "not transparent" and reported "disputes" in which "even the courts were involved".

An urgent application by Media Broadcast against the regulation by the Federal Network Agency with the demand for a retrospective price increase for VHF broadcasting failed in August 2016 before the Cologne Administrative Court.

On February 15, 2017, Media Broadcast announced that it would withdraw from the FM business. The decision was made due to the rejection of the requested pricing by the Federal Network Agency. The subsequent sale of around 1,000 VHF antennas across Germany led to an escalation that jeopardized the operation of the VHF transmitters in Germany (including Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk) because - according to the allegation by competitors - the regulation of the Federal Network Agency should be circumvented .

Services

Media Broadcast's SNG vehicle

Media Broadcast is active in the following areas:

  • Radio and television stations (analog and digital) and other broadcasting systems
  • Feeding and distribution networks for television and radio signals
  • Outside broadcasts
  • Satellite transmissions
  • Company solutions (audiovisual system solutions for corporate communication, digital signage )
  • Service providers at various network levels for the three cable network operators operating in Germany
  • Operation of the transmission systems in Mainflingen for civil long-wave radio, in particular the distribution of the DCF77 time signal

In Germany and Austria, Media Broadcast was entrusted with the technical broadcasting operations for DVB-H . Broadcasting in Austria was discontinued on December 31, 2010.

Products

Since February 2013, Media Broadcast in Germany has also been offering the multithek , a product that is not only aimed at business customers, but primarily at TV viewers. The free offer linked the Internet with conventional TV and enabled direct access to a large number of channels, media libraries and additional services. In addition, Media Broadcast operates the fee-based DVB-T2 platform freenet TV, with the help of which the advertising-financed German commercial channels are marketed in HD for a fee via DVB-T2.

Key figures

Media Broadcast looks after around 850 national and 110 international customers. This includes all public and many private program providers in Germany.

180  DVB-T transmitters, 80  DAB transmitters and 40  long , medium and short wave transmitters are operated. Media Broadcast also has 48  transponders on five satellites.

Transmitters

To broadcast radio and television programs, Media Broadcast mainly uses transmission towers and masts from Deutsche Funkturm GmbH , but also systems from BR , HR , NDR , SR , SWR and WDR . The company operates its own transmitter site in Nauen for shortwave broadcasting and the Usingen earth station for the satellite uplink .

Web links

Commons : Media Broadcast  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Bundesanzeiger.de: Annual financial statements for the financial year from 01/01/2015 to 12/31/2015
  2. ↑ Bundesnetzagentur.de: Regulatory order for the provision of terrestrial transmission systems and VHF antennas (with) use ( memento of the original from July 23, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.bundesnetzagentur.de
  3. ↑ Entry into the TV business: Freenet wants to take over Media Broadcast. onlinekosten.de, March 3, 2016, accessed on July 11, 2016 .
  4. ↑ Media Broadcast: Our company history. Archived from the original on March 19, 2017 ; accessed on August 15, 2019 .
  5. ↑ Milaco and aeos buy FM antennas from Media Broadcast. radioszene.de, January 18, 2018, accessed February 15, 2018 .
  6. ↑ a b Steffen Höhne: Fear of the radio silence: Are radio makers from MDR & Co threatened with a break in broadcasting? In: Mitteldeutsche Zeitung . ( mz-web.de [accessed on March 18, 2018]).
  7. ↑ Thomas Heuzeroth: Radio: On Wednesday, there is a threat of end for VHF transmitters in many places . In: THE WORLD . April 5, 2018 ( welt.de [accessed April 10, 2018]).
  8. ↑ dpa: Radio stations threatened to be switched off: Dispute over FM reception: DGB Nord is outraged | shz.de . In: shz . ( shz.de [accessed April 10, 2018]).
  9. ↑ INFOSAT Verlag & Werbe GmbH: APR dismayed by threatened interruption of VHF broadcasting . In: INFOSAT & INFODIGITAL - Everything from the digital world . April 9, 2018 ( infosat.de [accessed April 10, 2018]).
  10. ↑ Private broadcasters and media broadcast argue about DAB +
  11. ↑ irreconcilable disagreements with the network operator Media Broadcast
  12. ↑ BNetzA publishes regulation order for the VHF radio market and antenna (shared) use
  13. ↑ Controversy about VHF operation in Saalfeld ( Memento of the original from September 24, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.radioeins.de
  14. ↑ Media Broadcast threatens to cease broadcasting
  15. ↑ Alsterradio and 917xfm see their existence threatened
  16. ↑ Federal Network Agency - Ruling Chambers - Uniform Information Center on Abuse Proceedings Section 42 TKG. In: www.bundesnetzagentur.de. Retrieved May 21, 2016 .
  17. ↑ Stuttgart private radio still sees a need for regulation. In: meinungsbarometer.info. Retrieved August 18, 2016 .
  18. ↑ Fierce game about the VHF networks. In: meinungsbarometer.info. Retrieved August 18, 2016 .
  19. ↑ Radio broadcasters suffer from power struggles. In: meinungsbarometer.info. Retrieved August 18, 2016 .
  20. ↑ Gregory Lipinski: Defeat for Freenet subsidiary for broadcasting fees: Media Broadcast fails in court with urgent application ›Meedia. August 24, 2016. Retrieved August 25, 2016 .
  21. ↑ https://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/Nach-Regulierungsentendung-Media-Broadcast-stoesst-UKW-Geschaeft-ab-3627651.html
  22. ↑ DVB-H broadcasting goes to T-Systems. PC Welt, October 16, 2007, accessed June 25, 2014 .