A Berlin administrative court has ruled that the ban on Russia Today's German-language television channel, imposed by the Berlin-Brandenburg media authority, was lawful, a court spokesman said on Tuesday.
The court dismissed a lawsuit brought by the Russian company RT DE Productions GmbH.
The channel was launched in December 2021 via various distribution channels. It was in German and aimed at the German market.
Because the required broadcasting licence had not been applied for with the media authority, the regulator opened proceedings against the company. A broadcasting ban was issued in early February 2022.
The company - founded under German law in 2014, now in liquidation and no longer operating - challenged the ban in court, first in expedited proceedings in March 2023 and now in the main proceedings. The court found no grounds to object to the media authority's ruling.
Court: independent broadcaster
The absence of a broadcasting licence was not disputed in court. The central question was whether such a licence was required at all.
The Russian channel argued it was not, saying only content had been produced in Germany and that it did not constitute an independent broadcaster.
The court disagreed. The media authority had been right to regard the plaintiff as the organizer of the licence-required broadcasting programme RT DE, it said.
The broadcaster had itself stated that editorial responsibility for the content aired lay with it in Germany - not in Russia. The court found no compelling evidence to support the claim that it had merely been a supplier of programme segments to the Moscow-based company TV-Novosti.
