The additional cost privilege will be abolished: You now have to keep this in mind if you watch TV via cable

• The additional cost privilege enables property owners to bill TV cable connections via operating costs.
• This regulation ends on July 1, 2024. From that date, tenants can then freely choose the type of TV reception.
• It’s worth comparing prices because you can sometimes save a few euros a month.

Anyone who rents in Germany often pays for a cable TV connection – regardless of whether it is used or not. This is made possible by the so-called additional cost privilege, which allows landlords to allocate the costs of signal provision via the operating cost bill. Away July 1, 2024 However, this is finally over, because politicians are suspending the regulation, which is considered outdated in view of the modern variety of reception and providers.

While cable TV providers have to prepare for waves of cancellations, the affected households then have a relatively large choice of alternative reception types and providers. If you are clever, you can save a few euros a month thanks to the change in the law.

Cable TV without additional costs privilege: What changes and when

Here is an overview of the options available to cable customers from the deadline and what needs to be taken into account:

By July 1, 2024 at the latest, you will have to take care of the reception of your TV program yourself. At this point, the landlord is no longer allowed to provide you with cable television and bill you for additional costs. In some cases, however, the basic TV service may end now – for example, if the landlord’s collective agreements expire early and are not changed until summer 2024. We are aware of similar cases from Hamburg.

If you want to continue using the cable connection after the additional cost privilege is no longer applicable, you will have to sign a contract with the cable provider yourself in order to watch television. Payment is no longer made through the additional rental costs. There is no free basic service in the cable network, such as watching television via antenna. You also have to pay if you only want to watch ARD, ZDF and the third programs via cable.

However, it is not certain whether the purchase prices for end consumers will remain the same as in the currently valid collective agreements, which are paid for through the operating cost bill. In the future, the costs are likely to increase after the ancillary cost privilege is abolished, because individual processing with cable households in individual contracts means increased effort for the network operators.

Germany’s largest cable TV provider Vodafone wants to continue to offer cable TV for tenants at a price of less than 10 euros. The package is called “TV Connect Start” and contains a total of 97 television programs, including 28 in HD quality as well as regional and foreign language channels. There are also more than 80 radio stations. In order to book it, however, there must be a cooperation agreement between Vodafone and the landlord, in which the price for TV reception is regulated after the ancillary costs privilege is no longer applicable.

Vodafone explained in a press conference that tenants of large housing companies in particular can look forward to attractive conditions. You can check how much cable TV will ultimately cost at your address on this Vodafone website. However, not every place of residence is yet stored in the database.

The situation could change for recipients of citizens’ benefit: Anyone who receives the social benefit and uses it to process their additional rental costs through the job center only has to pay for their cable TV from the standard rate until now if the offer was booked individually. With the expiry of the additional cost privilege, recipients of citizens’ benefit will always have to pay for their TV reception themselves – regardless of the reception method.