Radio and television impact the formation of public opinion in a considerable manner. The regulatory authorities for private broadcasting therefore have to ensure that the services licensed are balanced, giving voice to all major strands of opinion, including those of minorities. This requirement was laid down by the Federal Constitutional Court in its rulings on broadcasting, and has been incorporated in the Bavarian media law under section 4.
Securing plurality not only relates to programme contents, but also to issues of media concentration. If, for example, the BLM intends to allocate transmission capacities, it will assess whether and to what extent applicants to be distributed in Bavaria are already involved in the operation of other broadcasting services or in newspaper publishing. The media law stipulates how large such shares may be.
On the national level, the Commission on concentration in the media (KEK) has been set up as an organ of the regulatory authorities and acts on their behalf, conducting the necessary assessments to ensure plurality. If a regulatory authority doubts an assessment of the Commission, it can appeal for a final ruling to the Conference of Directors which is made up of all regulatory authorities.