The Start of Commercial Broadcasters: Competition (1982–89)

Abstract

The introduction of commercial broadcasting operators was profoundly political and after 1976 the positions of SPD and CDU diametrically opposed each other. Whereas the Conservatives favoured competition, the SPD government under Schmidt (1974–82) was sceptical towards changes to the status quo, including the implementation of the cable pilot projects, as recommended by the KtK.¹ In April 1980 the Bundestag established the Committee of Inquiry into New Information and Communication Technologies. According to Christian Schwarz-Schilling:

The SPD, by any means, wanted to appoint the chair of the Enquête Commission for Energy and offered that the CDU appoint the chair of the Enquête Commission for Communication Technology as a trade-off. The intention was clearly to delay processes, to debate on fibre optics and so on. I had strongly opposed the commission because I wanted to act swiftly. Then, however, the CDU pushed me to chair it and I did that.²

The task of the inquiry was ‘to focus on the problems of the new information technologies, considering legal (particularly with regard to constitutional law), data protection, sociopolitical, economic, financial, technical and organizational aspects on the national and international level and to make recommendations for respective decisions’ (Zwischenbericht 1983: 2).