University of Cologne 

The author, Prof. Ernst Elitz, Director of DeutschlandRadio, the nationwide public service radio broadcaster in Germany, who teaches Cultural- and Media-Management at Freie Universität Berlin, presented this paper as keynote speech at the International Conference "Media Economics in Europe - Development and State of the Art" that was held at the University of Dortmund in March 2006. Elitz sees a “high untapped economic po­ten­tial for German Broadcasting Services to improve its quality management.” He illustrates his opinion by several examples: the excess of control mechanisms for public Service Broadcasters, the German Labour Law, the restrictions to use the existing programme content, the lacking applicability of public procurement law and the restraints to economize the usage of frequencies. Elitz concludes: “Many of these issues have been solved abroad. In Germany we are still on a long and difficult road to establish economically best practices.”

Table of Contents:

1. Introduction
2. The Control Mechanisms for Public Service Broadcasters
3. The German Labour Law
4. The Use of Existing Programme Content
5. Applicable Public Procurement Law
6. The Economy of Frequence Usage
7. Conclusion