The Legal Basis for the Media Broadcasting Authority
Broadcasting as a Public Task
In the mid -1980s so-called cable pilot projects were established in Berlin, Dortmund, Ludwigshafen, and Munich to evaluate whether the German audience would accept new channels in addition to already existing public ones.
In April 1987, after the completion of these projects, the German federal states
opened the way for a dual broadcasting system within the framework of a state
broadcasting agreement: the system was to be based on two parallel branches
of public and private broadcasting (covering both radio and television).
Thus, private broadcasting is a public task. Consequently, it is subject to
legal provisions on prescribed programme contents, the implementation of which
is monitored by the media authorities in the federal states (Länder).
In North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), the media authority is called "Landesanstalt
für Medien Nordrhein Westfalen (LfM)". It is located in Düsseldorf
and was founded in July 1987.
By public law, the LfM is a body with legal capacity. According to the terms
of the state broadcasting agreement, the activities of the LfM are financed
by a portion of the radio and television user fees levied in NRW. This ensures
its impartiality and supports independent broadcasting.
