Changing Paradigms in Network Neutrality and its Effects on Public Sector Broadcasting Online Services: Germany's Case

Abstract

Network neutrality has accelerated the wide spreading and adaptation of the Internet as a mass medium giving rise to the diversity which characterizes the Internet today. The expansion of existing networks in the course of development of next-generation broadband technologies has initiated a discussion beginning in 2005 and originating in the U.S., which challenges network neutrality as a universal interconnectivity paradigm for IP-based networks. This, in turn, challenges the existing provision strategies of data-intensive multimedia services thus raising interrelated and pertinent regulatory questions. This article focuses on four areas of interest: the interplay of telecommunications and media regulation, commodification and public value orientation, freedom of access and power of disposal over proprietary services and network neutrality and potential for diversification in the telecommunications sector. It provides an economic analysis of changing paradigms in network neutrality and illustrates how these developments might affect regulatory issues for the provision of online content in the public sector broadcasting with a particular focus on Germany’s market.