Germany Wants to Regulate a 24-Hour Livestream as a Broadcaster

Megalith

Megalith

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Germans who run non-stop livestreams may soon have to pay $1,080 to $10,800 for a broadcasting license. One Twitch channel has already been asked to apply and will not contest it, as his actions technically make him a broadcaster in the legal sense despite his chosen medium. Legislation specific to internet streams is sure to come, but streamers are probably still going to come out poorer based on this precedent.

You might want to think twice about running a non-stop livestream just because you can -- at least in Germany, regulators will want to have a word with you. They've told the 24-hour let's play channel PietSmietTV that it has to apply for a broadcasting license by April 30th if it wants to keep running. While it's operating through Twitch and YouTube instead of TV or radio, it technically meets all the legal definitions of a broadcaster: it's a "linear information and communication service" aimed at the public, with an editorial focus and not meant for personal purposes. Channel founder Peter Smits is respecting the decision, so there isn't going to be a fight.
 
Retronym said:
It makes sense for governments to do this. Without a license, you'd have any crackpot out there streaming their own content to places like twitch or youtube. Can you imagine?
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I mean they still can as long as it's not 24/7.....
 
Retronym said:
It makes sense for governments to do this. Without a license, you'd have any crackpot out there streaming their own content to places like twitch or youtube. Can you imagine?
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There's even talk of banning Swedish liberal kiddie-streamer PewDiePie for being an "alt-right facist and political extremist"... he never even talks politics. The leftist globalists have gone full retard.

If you aren't lock-step with them in their march of domination, they will label you a bigot and excommunicate and silence you. And why are they cracking down so hard on Youtube? Its the one communication channel they haven't been able to bully into political correctness yet, and they can't have the free expression and sharing of ideas that aren't pre-approved and fit the agenda of the week.

 
The Twitch partners who can afford it won't fight it, because it means far less competition for them. Those who can't afford it never will be able to going forward either.
 
Seems like they are going after professional grade streamers, though. It could end up a lot like the Uber/Lyft situation where companies are trying to avoid paying their due because "Internet".

Am I reading it wrong?
 
it's a "linear information and communication service" aimed at the public, with an editorial focus and not meant for personal purposes
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Except a Twtich stream is for personal purposes.
 
dgz said:
Seems like they are going after professional grade streamers, though. It could end up a lot like the Uber/Lyft situation where companies are trying to avoid paying their due because "Internet".

Am I reading it wrong?
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that is how I take it. A lot of people try to use "because internet" as a reason for not having to follow many laws / rules. If you are on 24x7 52 weeks a year you are a station. Even of you aren't 24x7. If you are doing streaming on 18-20+ hours a day and have a set programming then you are a station. So I am not surprised they have moved to treating some of the larger guys as such.
 
dgz said:
Seems like they are going after professional grade streamers, though. It could end up a lot like the Uber/Lyft situation where companies are trying to avoid paying their due because "Internet".

Am I reading it wrong?
Click to expand...

The spirit of the license being that there are only a limited amount of channels in the specified spectrum. You can't just have anyone broadcasting on 103.5Mhz because it would just be a mess and many people would avoid using the radio. I just happen to live in an area where one of my frequent AM talk radio stations bleeds into a mexican Pancho's music station. So I'm trying to listen to some guy talk and I got happy go lucky mexican music playing in the background on a broadcasting medium that is already squeezed for fidelity.

But the Internet completely avoids that issue. It's unlimited spectrums and its not passively broadcast to everyone, only to targeted viewers. So what is the REAL purpose of this tax? Uber/Lyft still adds very real congestion to limited roads that are paid for by tax dollars. How does that equate to the interweb highways?

But, I'm looking at this as an American. Germany and the EU have completely different perspectives on social freedoms and obligations.
 
So....what if someone is doing a once a year thing similar to the extralife marathons here. 24 hour streams to raise donations for children's hospitals, gonna make them shell out the cash too?
 
Germany... the promised land of over-regulation, the country that brought us great things like light bulb, vacuum cleaner and thermometer bans and RoHS solder (which accounts for 100% failure rates in certain electronics). I'm not surprised they are still at it. They can do whatever the hell they want in their own country but any time they attempt to shove any of their stupidity on other countries (especially through the EU) we have to fight back tooth and nail. Otherwise we will have a dysfunctional socialist government like theirs is.

As for this particular law, whilst I am fully against this nonsensical piece of regulation from a freedom standpoint, I don't really mind shutting down stupid kids streaming nonsense on the internet. That may not be the intent of the law but since the kids can't afford this license it's likely to be the result and I certainly won't be complaining :)
 
Ducman69 said:
There's even talk of banning Swedish liberal kiddie-streamer PewDiePie for being an "alt-right facist and political extremist"... he never even talks politics. The leftist globalists have gone full retard.

If you aren't lock-step with them in their march of domination, they will label you a bigot and excommunicate and silence you. And why are they cracking down so hard on Youtube? Its the one communication channel they haven't been able to bully into political correctness yet, and they can't have the free expression and sharing of ideas that aren't pre-approved and fit the agenda of the week.

Click to expand...


I hate PewDiePie, even his voice on his videos annoys the shit out of me....BUT if you read/watch what happened with him on this it is utterly stupid, looked like an out right attack on him by a media outlet more or less.
 
BlueFireIce said:
I hate PewDiePie, even his voice on his videos annoys the shit out of me....BUT if you read/watch what happened with him on this it is utterly stupid, looked like an out right attack on him by a media outlet more or less.
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Same here, can't stand the guy... And its multiple media outlets due to this "if you aren't with us, you're against us" rabid liberalism mentality, but overall I think its actually a good thing. MILLIONS of kids watch him, and the MSM has gone so far in their propaganda efforts, that they have ended up red pilling the next generation that now see that they are being force-fed lies, with MSM trustworthiness among the youth hovering between 10-15%.

And where are they turning to? The internet, including youtube to see videos often without commentary live-streamed for their own eyes to form their own opinions, because they know the MSM is pushing agendas and lies. So in response, you have governments that are most concerned with political-correctness censorship to the extreme, like Merkel's Germany, attempting to reign in the internet and gain control over google, twitter, and facebook.
 
Uhhhh, if anything Twitch should be buying the brooadcasting fee on behalf of all it's users. Making the users pay individually is like saying every individual program (and advertiser) has to pay a broadcast fee each.
 
Cyraxx said:
Uhhhh, if anything Twitch should be buying the brooadcasting fee on behalf of all it's users. Making the users pay individually is like saying every individual program (and advertiser) has to pay a broadcast fee each.
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This thought came to me as well.
 
Retronym said:
It makes sense for governments to do this. Without a license, you'd have any crackpot out there streaming their own content to places like twitch or youtube. Can you imagine?
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1391329666489.gif


I'm actually surprised at how easy it was to find gifs of Alex jones being triggered by things.
 
westrock2000 said:
The spirit of the license being that there are only a limited amount of channels in the specified spectrum. You can't just have anyone broadcasting on 103.5Mhz because it would just be a mess and many people would avoid using the radio. I just happen to live in an area where one of my frequent AM talk radio stations bleeds into a mexican Pancho's music station. So I'm trying to listen to some guy talk and I got happy go lucky mexican music playing in the background on a broadcasting medium that is already squeezed for fidelity.

But the Internet completely avoids that issue. It's unlimited spectrums and its not passively broadcast to everyone, only to targeted viewers. So what is the REAL purpose of this tax? Uber/Lyft still adds very real congestion to limited roads that are paid for by tax dollars. How does that equate to the interweb highways?

But, I'm looking at this as an American. Germany and the EU have completely different perspectives on social freedoms and obligations.
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This is the part I don't get I always thought broadcaster was spectrum licensing to keep rogue radio station from eating up space and overriding other stations. This seems like the definition of a government charging you for breathing air.

Edit: Ok I read the original german article. It looks like the german version of the FCC has to regulate any broadcaster that uses ad-insertion fulltime. This makes a little more sense. Germany due to well..their history is really hardcore about regulating content ie: they censor fuck all everything. This is the german government starting registration and regulation of internet channels.

The sad part about Germany is that they are so scared of fascism 2.0 that they ended up being authoritarian.
 
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piscian18 said:
I'm actually surprised at how easy it was to find gifs of Alex jones being triggered by things.
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He's super annoying, but his "triggering" is usually just a video where he role plays as someone he doesn't like with Jim Carey style dramatizations or just an attempt to be funny... keyword: attempt.
 
Ducman69 said:
He's super annoying, but his "triggering" is usually just a video where he role plays as someone he doesn't like with Jim Carey style dramatizations or just an attempt to be funny... keyword: attempt.
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He's limbaugh/beck 2.0 screaming and stirring shit for clicks. These types would be so much more digestible if they weren't having seizures while trying to make points. It's hard to take people seriously when their spittle is flying around. Then again some people are into being hulk angry about everything literally all the time.
 
piscian18 said:
He's limbaugh/beck 2.0 screaming and stirring shit for clicks. These types would be so much more digestible if they weren't having seizures while trying to make points. It's hard to take people seriously when their spittle is flying around. Then again some people are into being hulk angry about everything literally all the time.
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I think it has to do with being primarily radio entertainment. To keep people entertained (and that's what it is, not informed), you have to be either outlandish with your vocalizations to keep people's attention, or do and say outlandish things (Howard Stern style).
 
westrock2000 said:
The spirit of the license being that there are only a limited amount of channels in the specified spectrum. You can't just have anyone broadcasting on 103.5Mhz because it would just be a mess and many people would avoid using the radio. I just happen to live in an area where one of my frequent AM talk radio stations bleeds into a mexican Pancho's music station. So I'm trying to listen to some guy talk and I got happy go lucky mexican music playing in the background on a broadcasting medium that is already squeezed for fidelity.

But the Internet completely avoids that issue. It's unlimited spectrums and its not passively broadcast to everyone, only to targeted viewers. So what is the REAL purpose of this tax? Uber/Lyft still adds very real congestion to limited roads that are paid for by tax dollars. How does that equate to the interweb highways?

But, I'm looking at this as an American. Germany and the EU have completely different perspectives on social freedoms and obligations.
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Exactly, there's no "dues" to pay, as the only thing being consumed is bandwidth which is covered by Twitch paying the costs themselves along with the individual users using their own bandwidth and paying their ISP so they can watch streams. It is absolutely nothing like the clusterfuck that would happen if everyone was allowed to broadcast whatever and whenever they want over RF.
 
Ducman69 said:
I think it has to do with being primarily radio entertainment. To keep people entertained (and that's what it is, not informed).....
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You are referring to AJ right? I listened to AJ about 10 years ago off and on. I eventually dropped it all together just because there are much better sources out there if your find that outlook intriguing. You would be right in saying he is outlandish....BUT....there are some important concepts that he talks about that I think have value. He was using words like elites, globalism & new world order back then, when it was crackpot. Now we have mainstream media touting the benefits of globalism and NWO (and actually using those words). Nationalism is a four letter word and "nations without borders" is somehow a phrase that makes logical sense to people. So AJ was ahead of the curve on that one. And Glen Beck really was just a toned down version of AJ cleaned up for mass consumption. I try to look past the show boating and see the actual content. It does take some level of narcissism and showboating to be the kind of person that can talk into a mic for hours a day 5 days a week. So that doesn't bother me.

Coast To Coast....now that's entertainment.
 
Weird. In the US "broadcast" has a very specific meaning and it involves RF from one person to multiple recipients. This is even differentiated from "transmit" as used in amateur radio which is 1:1 RF communication. It's regulated to prevent RF congestion and conflict.

This thing in Germany just seems like a cash-grab.
 
westrock2000 said:
You are referring to AJ right? I listened to AJ about 10 years ago off and on. I eventually dropped it all together just because there are much better sources out there if your find that outlook intriguing. You would be right in saying he is outlandish....BUT....there are some important concepts that he talks about that I think have value. He was using words like elites, globalism & new world order back then, when it was crackpot. Now we have mainstream media touting the benefits of globalism and NWO (and actually using those words). Nationalism is a four letter word and "nations without borders" is somehow a phrase that makes logical sense to people. So AJ was ahead of the curve on that one. And Glen Beck really was just a toned down version of AJ cleaned up for mass consumption. I try to look past the show boating and see the actual content. It does take some level of narcissism and showboating to be the kind of person that can talk into a mic for hours a day 5 days a week. So that doesn't bother me.

Coast To Coast....now that's entertainment.
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Oh yeah, no doubt, then again when you're shotgunning as you say for 5 days a week, you're bound to hit stuff heh. :D But yeah, I was only referring to his style of spicing up his show to keep people alert and entertained while he talks. If you had Bueller's teacher trying to talk about the what... anyone, anyone, globalists that are attempting to import, anyone, anyone know, foreign slave labor people would, anyone, anyone know, fall asleep. ;)
 
westrock2000 said:
The spirit of the license being that there are only a limited amount of channels in the specified spectrum. You can't just have anyone broadcasting on 103.5Mhz because it would just be a mess and many people would avoid using the radio. I just happen to live in an area where one of my frequent AM talk radio stations bleeds into a mexican Pancho's music station. So I'm trying to listen to some guy talk and I got happy go lucky mexican music playing in the background on a broadcasting medium that is already squeezed for fidelity.

But the Internet completely avoids that issue. It's unlimited spectrums and its not passively broadcast to everyone, only to targeted viewers. So what is the REAL purpose of this tax? Uber/Lyft still adds very real congestion to limited roads that are paid for by tax dollars. How does that equate to the interweb highways?

But, I'm looking at this as an American. Germany and the EU have completely different perspectives on social freedoms and obligations.
Click to expand...

The "spirit of the license" (what a bullshit thing to say about a FORMAL document) is irrelevant and I think it doesn't have anything to do with your rural AM broadcasts interfering with stations run by people you don't seem to like very much.

I see nothing wrong with the German government treating businesses the same when they are essentially the same. Why should they discriminate? Surely you don't mean this is an attack against regular people doing streams from their homes.
 
dgz said:
The "spirit of the license" (what a bullshit thing to say about a FORMAL document) is irrelevant and I think it doesn't have anything to do with your rural AM broadcasts interfering with stations run by people you don't seem to like very much.

I see nothing wrong with the German government treating businesses the same when they are essentially the same. Why should they discriminate? Surely you don't mean this is an attack against regular people doing streams from their homes.
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By spirit, He means the purpose a broadcast license in the US is regulate over the air spectrum use. From what I'm reading Germany is using this license as a tool to regulate the content.
 
piscian18 said:
By spirit, He means the purpose a broadcast license in the US is regulate over the air spectrum use. From what I'm reading Germany is using this license as a tool to regulate the content.
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Why would he mean that when this is about Germany? Please don't speak for other people.
 
piscian18 said:
By spirit, He means the purpose a broadcast license in the US is regulate over the air spectrum use. From what I'm reading Germany is using this license as a tool to regulate the content.
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I think he was just trying to work in a way to call me a was racist without saying it directly.

I included a disclaimer pointing out my lack of knowledge of that region.
 
westrock2000 said:
I think he was just trying to work in a way to call me a was racist without saying it directly.

I included a disclaimer pointing out my lack of knowledge of that region.
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I am so confused right now. I was just confirming yes you are correct in the US it's spectrum management, Germany use is a little complex and relates to content control so they can censor InternetTV, you did specifically state you were referring to American broadcasting in your original post. I'll..just show myself out now.

635964512920158178-534839676_cVmVE.gif
 
westrock2000 said:
I think he was just trying to work in a way to call me a was racist without saying it directly.

I included a disclaimer pointing out my lack of knowledge of that region.
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Uh huh. I was merely questioning the nature of your response. Feel free to elaborate
 
Here's a German's interesting perspective about the real motivations behind this battle involving governments, MSM, and new-media, and that while there's a culture war certainly going on, just like military wars there are also big players with big MONEY involved pulling strings behind the scenes:



tl;dw: Political correctness was used as a weapon to exert control and inflict damage on the competition. An old trick, but reliable one.
 
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Retronym said:
It makes sense for governments to do this. Without a license, you'd have any crackpot out there streaming their own content to places like twitch or youtube. Can you imagine?
Click to expand...
Imagine the freedom, you mean?
 
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