1. ?The Media and Open Access:
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The Point of View of Public Service Broadcasting / By Verena Wiedemann, Association of German
Public Service Broadcasters
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According to the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany, it is the task of public service broadcasting
to be a medium and factor in the creation of public opinion. As a medium, we, the ARD (Association of
German Public Service Broadcasters), convey the entire spectrum of opinions in Germany. We inform
our listeners and viewers about current affairs in Germany and abroad, represent the cultural diversity
of every region, and offer a public mirror of our social reality in all of its social, cultural and political
facets. As a factor, we contribute, through our programmes, to the cultural diversity and democratic
dialogue in German society. The conditions of access to our programmes are defined in the public
interest by our legislators, and not by the market. The funding of the contents of and access to our
public service channels takes place via a viewing and listening licence system organised on a public
service basis and with the support of a socially acceptable fee. This allows us to unlock all of our
programmes and make them accessible without additional payment.
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Digitalisation is rapidly changing the ways in which audio-visual contents can be accessed.
Theoretically, the ARD could open its audiovisual archives and give its users access to the cultural and
political history of Germany, Europe and the world in the form of audio and video files. The ARD?s
current programming could also be made available to our viewers and listeners after the initial
broadcast anywhere and at anytime via electronic retrieval.
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However, things are unfortunately not that easy. All of these options cost money, both in terms of the
technical transmission and in terms of the acquisition of the necessary rights. The ?right of public
accessibility?, which goes hand-in-hand with the on-demand provision of contents, is a separate right of
the authors. It is not identical to the broadcasting rights in connection with a television programme. If
for example the programmes currently on air are put online for one week, this right of use is still so
close to the time of the initial broadcast on television that it can be taken as being part of the
broadcasting right, which broadcasting institutions acquire in any case. It would however be very
expensive if Open Access were granted to our entire archives, especially since the ARD?s broadcasting
institutions of the German L?nder do not even possess retrieval
rights on their older productions.
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As for public access to the contents of public service broadcasting, there must be one basic principle in
the knowledge society: contents for which the public have already paid in the form of licence fees must
be made available to them via all relevant platforms without further payment. This includes
viewing/listening at a time of the viewer/listener?s own choice, e.g. ondemand via the Internet. A

2. further increase of our programmes? utility value for our licence-fee payers could be linked to the
release of certain contents for non-commercial use by third parties. In this way ARD?s contents could
possibly contribute directly to the creative cultural process and to the generation of knowledge by third
parties. Therefore, it would be worthwhile for public service broadcasters to consider the Open Access
model of libraries and academic publications. Again the main concern is to create the prerequisites for
enabling users to make optimum use of the resources of the knowledge society.
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We therefore need a broad discussion about the conditions on which the ARD should allow access to
and use of the treasures of knowledge and of the cultural heritage stored away in its archives. Should
this access be funded entirely on the solidarity principle (by the general public via licence fees) or
should these services be left in the hands of the free market for commercial exploitation, as is being
demanded by commercial operators? These are fundamental questions for our society, because they
will decide whether public service broadcasting can fulfil its potential to make a substantial
contribution to the opportunities that the knowledge society in the 21st century offers to everyone.
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p. 111-112
Open Access: Opportunities and challenges. A handbook [???? : ?????] / European Commission,
German Commission for UNESCO. -- Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European
Communities, 2008. -- 144 p., 14.8 x 21.0 cm. -- ISBN 978-92-79-06665-8. -- EUR 23459,
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