German Twitch streamers to require broadcasting licence

challengemaster

Didn't see any mention of this here yet.

It seems similarly to Ireland and RTE getting very flustered over people wanting to consume all their media need online, the Germans are also coming up with nonsense means to deal with it.

TL;DR version is that Twitch streamers with over 500 viewers under German legislation are to be considered broadcasters and require a licence which can cost between €1,000-10,000. If they fail to procure a licence they are being considered pirate broadcasters and will be prosecuted.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQh9Pe7qnDk

Personally I think it's a bit ridiculous.

noel100

challengemaster wrote: »

Didn't see any mention of this here yet.

It seems similarly to Ireland and RTE getting very flustered over people wanting to consume all their media need online, the Germans are also coming up with nonsense means to deal with it.

TL;DR version is that Twitch streamers with over 500 viewers under German legislation are to be considered broadcasters and require a licence which can cost between €1,000-10,000. If they fail to procure a licence they are being considered pirate broadcasters and will be prosecuted.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQh9Pe7qnDk

Personally I think it's a bit ridiculous.

Does that mean they are entitled to participate the broadcasting license .

me_irl

I don't think you needed the "tl;dr version" :pac:

What if they're behind seven proxies (sorry, couldn't resist).

What is the actual German source on this other than this guy with an Audible sponsorship? I checked the description on his video and there's nothing linked.

It could be just some German version of Waterford Whispers / The Onion that was misconstrued?

But if it's true, it's absolute bull.

munchkin_utd

noel100 wrote: »

Does that mean they are entitled to participate the broadcasting license .

almost definitely no chance .

Still, they have 300,000 subscribers on you tube with then millions of views of their content, so thats more of a reach than some "real" broadcasters.

You'd presume with that reach that they have plenty of income from clicks and from sponsorship that the cost of a license wouldnt kill them to have to pay.

And, seeing as they are acting commercially anyhow, the cost of the licence would be tax deductable as a cost of their business

EDIT: yes, im also a stickler for getting a source or GTF out of here..... so heres the website of the most popular german IT magazine with the article
https://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/Twitch-Stream-als-Rundfunkangebot-Medienanstalten-nehmen-PietSmietTV-ins-Visier-3661705.html
also here on the german equivalent of the irish times, paper of record
http://www.faz.net/aktuell/feuilleton/medien/youtube-kollektiv-piet-smiet-tv-soll-rundfunklizenz-beantragen-14937681.html

challengemaster

munchkin_utd wrote: »

almost definitely no chance .

Still, they have 300,000 subscribers on you tube with then millions of views of their content, so thats more of a reach than some "real" broadcasters.

You'd presume with that reach that they have plenty of income from clicks and from sponsorship that the cost of a license wouldnt kill them to have to pay.

And, seeing as they are acting commercially anyhow, the cost of the licence would be tax deductable as a cost of their business

The ones they're targeting as the initial case - Piet Smiet TV - do have that reach and income levels. But once there's a precedent set then they're free to apply this to every twitch streamer who has 500+ viewers at any given time. Most of which wouldn't have the means to pay.

munchkin_utd

challengemaster wrote: »

The ones they're targeting as the initial case - Piet Smiet TV - do have that reach and income levels. But once there's a precedent set then they're free to apply this to every twitch streamer who has 500+ viewers at any given time. Most of which wouldn't have the means to pay.

its not a precedent, its existing law now being implemented.

the 500 user limit is in there :
http://www.gesetze-bayern.de/Content/Document/RFunkStVertr

its all there in one nice complete document, so its literally all there in black and white to be read by anyone looking to offer a broadcasting service .

munchkin_utd

and no sooner have I posted those links, the Frankfurter Allgemeine (again, as near to the likes of the irish times as you get in Germany) has another analysis piece stating that this is the beginning of a wider strategy by the broadcasting regulators which will eventually end up in an attempt to licence facebook live videos and the likes .

So, yea, its an attempt to set an enforceable precedent of the existing law with which they will then use to regulate internet content in a much wider way .

"First the gamers, then the internet"
http://www.faz.net/aktuell/feuilleton/debatten/rundfunklizenz-fuer-youtuber-14945278.html

The law is there to be implemented so theres not a fierce amount that can be done to stop it, except change the law or hope that a very very smart defense laywer can twist the definition of what is a broadcast and whats a service.