National Co-ordinator:

To be advised

Survey

Nearly 50 years ago - exactly on the 10th. June 1950 - the television in Germany was founded as an association of the existing radio stations in the Federal Republic of Germany West-Germany. This first television system in Germany was organised under the roof of ARD, an abreviation for "Arbeitsgemeinschaft der oeffentlich-rechtlichen Rundfunkanstalten der Bundesrepublik Deutschland". In English: "Association of Public Broadcasting Corporations in the Federal Republic of Germany". At the early beginning this organisation produced the programme of the first television channel in Germany general called "Erstes Deutsches Fernsehen"
(First TV-cannel of Germany).

Ten years later a second national TV-channel was founded in Germany. Its name: " ZDF", an abbreviation for "Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen" (Second German TV).

Because ZDF produces only one national wide screened programme this organisation can't be a member of an organisation of regional stations of the kind of Circom Regional. In Germany the regional stations are represented by the "ARD", an organisation which produced a national wide screened first channel and besides of this regional programmes within the borders of the different 16 German regions. These regional TV-stations are generally called "Drittes Fernsehprogramm" (Third TV-programme). These third regional channels - under the roof of the juridical organisation of the ARD - are the members of Circom Regional.

Today the ARD consists of the following independent broadcasting corporations:
Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR)
Hessischer Rundfunk (HR)
Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk (MDR)
Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR)
Ostdeutscher Rundfunk Brandenburg (ORB)
Saarlaendischer Rundfunk (SR)
Sender Freies Berlin (SFB)
Sudwestrundfunk (SWR)

Organisation

Experience with media abuse in the years prior to 1945 motivated the decision to make public broadcasting corporations in West Germany independent of government and interest group influence. The constitution (1949) gave the rights to administer radio and television to each of the existing federal states. The states in West Germany, either individually or in groups, founded public-law institutions for the purpose of producing and broadcasting radio and television.

All broadcasting corporations have the same mission, i.e. to serve the public as a whole with programmes providing information, education and entertainment. This model was applied to the new eastern states in 1991.

Adherence to the public programming mandate is monitored in the public broadcasting corporations by broadcasting councils. They consist of the representatives of the major organised groups in society. The public broadcasting system is financed by licence fees in 1999: 28,35 DM family/month. The public broadcasting organisations also take in some revenue from advertising.

Programme

The individual broadcasting corporations under state law contribute to the cooperative programme of ARD, Erstes Deutsches Fernsehen. Programming is co-ordinated by a standing committee whose chairman is the programme director of "Deutsches Fernsehen". He is assisted by co-ordinators for all various programming areas. ARD broadcasts 18 hours of television daily on its main transmitter chains.

Erstes Deutsches Fernsehen (1st TV-channel of Germany)

"Erstes Programm" (First Programme) offers a wide variety of television for all viewers. The range extends from regular news and sports broadcasts to entertainment shows, various series, political magazine programmes, cultural broadcasts, television plays, feature films, family programmes, religious and musical broadcasts. On work days, ARD und ZDF broadcast a morning news programme and at 1.p.m. a "Mittagsmagazin".
During the early evening, on work days, the individual outlets of the First German Television carry their own broadcasts. These includes regional information, entertainment and commercials.

Third TV - Programmes

Information and entertainment with a regional accent. To provide a regional contrast to the national programming of Erstes Deutsches Fernsehen, the regional broadcasting corporations produce Third Programmes on television. These programmes - Bayerisches Fernsehen, Hessen 3, MDR-Fernsehen, N3 (from NDR), ORB-Fernsehen, B1 (from SFB), Südwest 3 (from SR, SDR, SWF) and West 3 - total between 9 and 19 1/2 hours a day. A significant element in some of these programmes is the fact that they have their own news broadcasts. Regional information and entertainment programmes are broadcast along with educational programmes and music, cultural and science programmes and documentaries, feature films, series, game shows and talk shows.