Facts
The private broadcaster Star TV broadcast the cross-media erotic format "Lovers TV" daily after midnight, which in addition to erotic content also contained advertising for downloading pornographic videos to mobile phones. The Independent Complaints Authority for Radio and Television (UBI) criticized these commercials as immoral and endangering youth. The Federal Court dismissed the appeal filed by Star TV AG against this.Considerations
The Federal Court concluded that the criticized commercials go beyond erotic representations and degrade people in image and sound as pure, interchangeable sexual objects. This violates human dignity and endangers the unimpaired sexual development of young people. While advertising for soft-pornographic content is generally not prohibited, the specific design of the commercials in this case is inadmissible under broadcasting law.
The court emphasized that youth protection is also relevant for advertising after midnight, as modern receiving devices enable time-delayed consumption of broadcasts. In…