German media company ProSiebenSat.1 has bowed to pressure from ARD and ZDF and removed the public broadcasters’ media libraries from its streaming platform Joyn.
“The test phase of the ARD and ZDF media libraries via Joyn is now over. The VOD content of the public media libraries is currently no longer available on demand via Joyn,” Joyn explained in a message to its users. At the same time, it stressed that the live streams of the public broadcasters’ TV channels and other content from ARD Plus and ZDF Studios would continue to be available free of charge via Joyn.
In a controversial move, ProSiebenSat.1 integrated the media library content from ARD and ZDF into Joyn three weeks ago without having obtained the public broadcasters’ consent. As a result, ARD and ZDF announced legal action. ProSiebenSat.1, however, maintained that such embedding was legally permissible.
For the inclusion of content from the commercial subsidiaries ARD Plus and ZDF Studios, ProSiebenSat.1 had previously signed licensing agreements, but not for the media library content.
ProSiebenSat.1’s decision to discontinue the unauthorised integration of the media libraries could pave the way for new discussions between Joyn and ARD and ZDF regarding a streaming collaboration, this time by mutual agreement.
