As of: February 20, 2024, 11:29 a.m
By: Bjarne Kommnick, Maximilian Hertel
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For a long time, tenants were tied to their landlord's TV connection.
However, a new law now allows people to freely choose their television reception - the additional cost privilege no longer applies.
Munich - Millions of Germans continue to receive television via a cable connection - but so far not always voluntarily.
A change in the law was passed on December 1, 2021, which put an end to the so-called additional cost privilege.
This means that tenants are no longer tied to a specific TV provider, but have a free choice.
This change, which is anchored in the Telecommunications Act (TKG), has now become effective and is accompanied by a transition period.
Additional cost privilege no longer applies: tenants are free to choose their TV connection thanks to the new law
In plain language, the abolition of the additional cost privilege means that consumers now have more freedom when choosing their TV connection.
Previously, landlords, especially in larger residential complexes, were able to pass on the costs of a shared cable connection to the tenants, regardless of whether they actually used the connection.
Landlords can pass on these costs to tenants until June 30th of this year, after which this is no longer permitted.
As part of the change in the law, consumer advocates recently even warned of new scams.
With a change to the Telecommunications Act, the additional cost privilege for cable TV will no longer apply.
© IMAGO/Piero Nigro
A representative survey by the Internet television and video-on-demand platform waipu.tv shows that many tenants are not informed about the additional additional costs.
Only five percent of the 1,004 households surveyed were informed about the additional cost privilege.
The change resulting from the change in the law affects around 12 million households throughout Germany.
In any case, there are exact deadlines for when the utility bill must be received by the tenant.
Consumer advice center expects price increases for future cable connections
Experts at the consumer advice center assume that there will be a minimal price increase for future cable connections.
Although major suppliers are warning against drastic price increases, experts believe this is just a tactic to discourage the change in the law.
With increasing freedom for consumers, more contracts could be canceled and there is a fear that many could switch to alternatives such as streaming services or even forego the TV connection altogether.
The consumer advice centers state on their website that the price of a cable connection is expected to increase by two to three euros.
Experience shows that when multiple user contracts are terminated, the price for the corresponding single user contract is around eight to ten euros per month.
The transition period for additional cost privileges no longer applies on June 30th
From June 30th, in accordance with the amendment to the Telecommunications Act (TKG), it is no longer permitted to bill the TV connection via the additional costs, regardless of the decisions within the rental party.
Affected tenants should take action.
The SWR recommends the following steps:
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If the owner has not yet contacted the tenants, you should contact them yourself.
The tenant himself cannot terminate the collective agreement because the landlord is the owner of the contract.
This is another reason why you should definitely contact your landlord.
In the future, it will still be possible to conclude a collective agreement with other rental parties.
However, the infrastructure for a cable connection that can be used by all parties must be made possible by the landlord.
The editor wrote this article and then used an AI language model for optimization at his own discretion. All information has been carefully checked. Find out more about our AI principles here.