20.10.2007   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 247/5

Reference for a preliminary ruling from the Verwaltungsgericht Hannover (Germany) lodged on 19 July 2007 — Kabel Deutschland Vertrieb und Service GmbH & Co. KG v Niedersächsische Landesmedienanstalt für privaten Rundfunk

(Case C-336/07)

(2007/C 247/07)

Language of the case: German

Referring court

Verwaltungsgericht Hannover

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicant: Kabel Deutschland Vertrieb und Service GmbH & Co. KG

Defendant: Niedersächsische Landesmedienanstalt für privaten Rundfunk

Interveners: Norddeutscher Rundfunk, Hamburg, and 39 others

Questions referred

1.

Is a provision like Paragraph 37(1) of the Niedersächsisches Mediengesetz (Lower Saxony Law on the Media) compatible with Article 31(1) of the Universal Service Directive 2002/22/EC if a cable network operator is forced to provide access, on more than half of the channels permanently usable for analogue broadcasting which are available on its networks, to programmes which — although they do not cover the whole of the Land of Lower Saxony — are already being broadcast terrestrially according to the DVB-T standard?

2.

Is a provision like Paragraph 37(1) of the Niedersächsisches Mediengesetz compatible with Article 31(1) of the Universal Service Directive 2002/22/EC if a cable network operator is forced to provide access to television programmes on its analogue cable networks even in those areas of the Land in which the cable end-user would in any event be in a position to receive the same television programmes terrestrially according to the DVB-T standard by means of a terrestrial antenna and a decoder?

3.

Are ‘television … services’ within the meaning of the first sentence of Article 31(1) of the Universal Service Directive 2002/22/EC to be interpreted as including providers of media services or telemedia, for example teleshopping?

4.

Is a provision like Paragraph 37(2) of the Niedersächsisches Mediengesetz compatible with Article 31(1) of the Universal Service Directive 2002/22/EC if, in the event of a shortage of channels, the competent national authority has to establish an order of priority of applicants which results in full use of the channels available to the cable network operator?