Joyn may not simply embed content from ARD and ZDF
A Munich court has ruled in favor of ARD and ZDF in the dispute with Joyn. The broadcasters had filed a lawsuit because ProSiebenSat.1 had linked their content.
(Image: metamorworks/Shutterstock.com)
Another legal defeat for ProSiebenSat.1 in the dispute over the integration of public service content into its own streaming service Joyn. On Wednesday, the Munich I Regional Court ruled in two judgments that the private broadcaster may not simply link content from ARD and ZDF directly in its portal. The judgments are not yet legally binding. (Ref.: 37 O 2223/25 and 37 O 2226/25).
Permissible embedding?
Since the end of January, ProSiebenSat.1 surprisingly offered excerpts from the media library of the two public broadcasters via Joyn as an integrated link. Before this, there are said to have been talks with ARD and ZDF, but they did not agree to such "embedding". ARD Chairman Florian Hager described the procedure as "robbery" and an "attack on the entire system".
The 37th Civil Chamber of the Regional Court, which is responsible for antitrust law, has now ruled in favor of the two fee-financed broadcasters. ProSiebenSat.1 had argued in the dispute that the Interstate Media Treaty did not offer any protection for the public broadcasters. The links via Joyn were considered to be copyright-permitted embedding. Nevertheless, ProSiebenSat.1 temporarily stopped the direct links to the media libraries of the two broadcasters in the course of the legal dispute at the beginning of March.
The Munich judges did not agree with the private broadcaster and also prohibited it from including the two public media libraries in its offering again in the future. The reason given was that the public broadcasters had not given their consent. ARD and ZDF were not required to grant this to the competition. The defendants' actions violate the provisions of the Interstate Media Treaty. This also protects the freedom of broadcasters to dispose of their respective offerings.
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New state treaty: more cooperation?
The Cologne Regional Court had previously ruled that ProSiebenSat.1's approach to integrating the ARD media library was not permissible. According to the court, the main issue was the technical process, which was not allowed to take apart the public broadcaster's overall offering.
The court had only ruled on the database producer right, according to the Joyn operators at the time. This would still allow the embedding of content as long as not all or significant parts of the media library were taken over. In principle, there is a legal basis for embedding.
The so-called Reform State Treaty is due to come into force at the end of 2025. With a focus on embedding, for example, it states that public broadcasters must cooperate more closely with private broadcasters.
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