Germany can not prohibit satellite TV channels trasmitting from other EU member states into its domestic territory. The decision whether a channel's programmes comply with federal laws has to be made by the country in which the broadcaster is based, ruled the Court of Justice of the European Union in Luxemborg. The judges had to decide whether Germany is allowed to ban the programmes broadcast by Denmark-based Kurdish satellite channel Roj TV. Germany argues that the channel would stir violence between Kurds and Turks and support PKK. According to the Court of Justice, Germany can't prohibit the channel itself, but it can prohibit the local activities of Roj TV and its Danish licence holder Mesopotamia Broadcast as associations on German territory. Roj TV broadcasts its programmes via satellite, mainly in Kurdish, throughout Europe and the Middle East. It commissions programmes from, among others, a company established in Germany. In 2008, the German authorities prohibited Mesopotamia Broadcast from conducting, through the local agency of Roj TV, any activities in Germany on the ground that Roj TV's programmes would infringe the 'principles of international understanding' as defined by German constitutional law. The two companies took Germany to court, arguing that only Denmark would be allowed to control their activities. The Court of Justice confirmed this stipulation by ruling that the Danish authorities alone are competent to judge whether Roj TV provokes "incitement to hatred". The judges stressed that EU member states are not authorised to restrict the retransmission on their territory of programmes broadcast from another member state. As a result of the ruling, the reception and private use of Roj TV is not prohibited and remains possible in Germany. However, as a prohibited association, Roj TV can no longer produce programms or organise activities in Germany such as, for example, showing its programmes in a public place like a stadium. Source : Rapid TV News website
