L 200/14 Official Journal of the European Union 22.7.2006 COMMISSION COMMISSION DECISION of 9 November 2005 on the State Aid which the Federal Republic of Germany has implemented for the introduction of digital terrestrial television (DVB-T) in Berlin-Brandenburg (notified under document number C(2005) 3903) (Only the German version is authentic) (Text with EEA relevance) (2006/513[EC) THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 88(2) thereof, Having regard to the Agreement on the European Economic Area, and in particular Article 62(1)(a) thereof, Having called on interested parties to submit their comments pursuant to those provisions (1), Having regard to those comments, Whereas: I. PROCEDURE By fax of 16 December 2002, the Association of Private Cable Network Operators (Verband Privater Kabelnetzbe- treiber e.V. hereinafter ‘ANGA’) filed a complaint concerning the financing of digital terrestrial television (DVB-T) in Berlin-Brandenburg (). By letter of 26 March 2003, it urged the Commission to initiate the procedure and to suspend the granting of the aid. By letter of 2 May 2003, the Commission submitted a request for information from Germany. The information was provided on 30 June 2003 following an extension of the deadline. On 1 October 2003 a meeting took place between the Commission departments and the alleged provider of the aid, the Media Authority for Berlin-Bran- denburg (Medienanstalt Berlin-Brandenburg, ‘Mabb’). Mabb supplied further information on 23 October 2003 and 4 February 2004. (") O] C 216, 28.8.2004, p. 5: state aid C 25/2004 (ex NN 36/04) — Introduction of digital terrestrial television (DVB-T) in Berlin-Bran- denburg. () DVB-T stands for digital video broadcasting over a terrestrial network. Other forms of digital video broadcasting are DVB-S (by satellite) and DVB-C (by cable). () ( ( ( ( ( 4 ) ) °) ) ) By letter of 23 December 2003, Kabel Baden-Wiirt- temberg GmbH & Co. KG (Kabel BW’) announced that it too would be submitting a complaint regarding the financing of DVB-T in Berlin-Brandenburg. The complaint was submitted on 8 March 2004. However, the Commission decided that this complaint would not be examined as part of the present formal investigation procedure. Since the complaint deals with the prices set by public service broadcasters (PSBs) for rental of their terrestrial broadcasting capacities to commercial service broadcasters (CSBs), it was included in the general inves- tigation into the financing of PSBs in Germany (3). By letter of 14 July 2004, the Commission informed Germany that it had decided to initiate the formal inves- tigation procedure laid down in Article 88(2) of the EC Treaty in respect of the measure at issue (‘decision to initiate the procedure’). The Commission decision to initiate the procedure was published in the Official Journal of the European Union on 28 August 2004 (). The Commission called on interested parties to submit their comments on the measure. Following the extension of the deadline, Germany responded by letter of 4 October 2004 to the request for comments in the decision to initiate the procedure. The Commission also received comments from the following interested parties: Nordic —Satellite AB (NSAB’) (°), ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG (ProSiebenSat.1’) and the European Cable Communications Association (ECCA’) and Deutsche Telekom AG (DTAG) (%), and the  European  Satellite =~ Operators  Association (ESOA)) (). By letter of 17 November 2004, the Commission forwarded those observations to Germany, which commented on them by letter of 16 December 2004. %) Case E 3/2005 (ex CP 43/2003). See footnote 1. By letters of 29 September 2004 and 22 October 2004. %) By letter of 30 September 2004 in each case. ’) By letter of 25 October 2004.