Germany ends the cable TV service-charge privilege on 1 July 2024

On 1 July 2024, the so-called Nebenkostenprivileg expired in Germany. The rule had allowed landlords to add the cost of a cable TV connection to tenants' service charges (Nebenkosten), usually under a collective contract covering a whole building.

The change came from a reform of Germany's Telecommunications Act (Telekommunikationsgesetz), passed in 2021. Lawmakers argued that tenants should be free to choose their own TV and internet provider instead of paying for cable automatically, and that the old arrangement limited competition. Landlords could no longer bundle these fees into the monthly bill after the cut-off date, and a transition period ended.

The end of the privilege mattered most for Vodafone, Germany's largest cable operator after its takeover of Unitymedia. Millions of households had been served through such collective contracts, and many of them now had to sign individual contracts, switch to streaming or satellite, or move to other providers. Vodafone reported a sharp drop in TV customers as a result, which weighed on its German business and became part of the background to its later cost-cutting and restructuring plans.