A Berlin court sided with German media regulator Medienanstalt Berlin-Brandenburg (MABB) on Friday, dismissing a complaint lodged by RT DE Productions early in February.
“Today, the absurd decision of the German regulator MABB was upheld by a German court. RT DE Productions must stop broadcasting RT DE,” the head of RT DE Productions and Ruptly video agency, Dinara Toktosunova, said, reiterating the company’s stance that it is merely a production company and thus was not required to seek any broadcasting license from the German authorities in the first place.
“Not only is RT DE Productions not a broadcaster, but, since the beginning of March, it has stopped producing any programs for the RT DE TV channel, and has also stopped using studios in Germany – we simply don’t have a studio anymore,” she said. “I would like to note that the broadcaster [Moscow-based ANO TV-Novosti] restricted the broadcast of the RT DE channel in the EU, thus it’s even less clear what the German regulator MABB is fighting against exactly.”