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ARD is a joint organisation of Germany's regional public-service broadcasters. It was founded in 1950 in
West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...
to represent the common interests of the new, decentralised, post-war broadcasting services – in particular the introduction of a joint television network. The ARD has a budget of €6.9 billion, 22,612 employees and is the largest public broadcaster network in the world. The budget comes primarily from a
licence fee A television licence or broadcast receiving licence is a payment required in many countries for the reception of television broadcasts, or the possession of a television set where some broadcasts are funded in full or in part by the licence f ...
which every household, company and public institution are required by law to pay. For an ordinary household the fee is currently €18.36 per month. Households living on
welfare Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specificall ...
are exempt from the fee. The fees are not collected directly by the ARD, but by the Beitragsservice (formerly known as Gebühreneinzugszentrale GEZ), a common organisation of the ARD member broadcasters, the second public TV broadcaster
ZDF ZDF (, short for Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen; ; "Second German Television") is a German public-service television broadcaster based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. It is run as an independent nonprofit institution, which was founded by all fe ...
, and
Deutschlandradio Deutschlandradio (DLR) (''Radio Germany'') is a national German public radio broadcaster. History ''Deutschlandfunk'' was originally a West German news radio targeting listeners within West Germany as well as in neighbouring countries, ''Deutsc ...
. ARD maintains and operates a national television network, called ''
Das Erste Das Erste (; "The First") is the flagship national television channel of the ARD association of public broadcasting corporations in Germany. ''Das Erste'' is jointly operated by the nine regional public broadcasting corporations that are member ...
'' ("The First") to differentiate it from
ZDF ZDF (, short for Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen; ; "Second German Television") is a German public-service television broadcaster based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. It is run as an independent nonprofit institution, which was founded by all fe ...
, a.k.a. "das Zweite" ("The Second"), which started 1963, as a separate public TV-broadcaster. The ARD network began broadcasting on 31 October 1954 under the name of ''Deutsches Fernsehen'' ("German Television"), becoming ''Erstes Deutsches Fernsehen'' ("First German Television") with a corporate redesign in 1984; it adopted its current short name (''Das Erste'') in 1994. ARD's programmes are aired over its own terrestrial broadcast network, as well as via cable, satellite and IPTV. ARD also produces two
free-to-air Free-to-air (FTA) services are television (TV) and radio services broadcast in unencrypted form, allowing any person with the FTA Receiver, appropriate receiving equipment to receive the signal and view or listen to the content without requiring ...
channels (
one 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...
and
Tagesschau24 Tagesschau24 (stylized as tagesschau24) is a German free-to-air television channel owned by ARD and managed by Norddeutscher Rundfunk. It was launched on 30 August 1997 as "EinsExtra" before the introduction of its current name on 1 May 2012. ...
) and participates in the production of
Phoenix Phoenix most often refers to: * Phoenix (mythology), a legendary bird from ancient Greek folklore * Phoenix, Arizona, a city in the United States Phoenix may also refer to: Mythology Greek mythological figures * Phoenix (son of Amyntor), a ...
(current events, news and documentaries),
KiKa KiKA (contraction of ''Der KinderKAnal von ARD und ZDF''  ARD and ZDF">ARD_(broadcaster).html" ;"title="he Children's Channel of ARD (broadcaster)">ARD and ZDF]) is a German free-to-air television channel based in Erfurt, Germany. It is man ...
(kids-oriented),
3sat In logic and computer science, the Boolean satisfiability problem (sometimes called propositional satisfiability problem and abbreviated SATISFIABILITY, SAT or B-SAT) is the problem of determining if there exists an interpretation that satisfie ...
(cultural-oriented), arte (Franco-German cultural programming), and
Funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...
(teenage-oriented, online only). ARD's programming is produced by its regional members (see also
Institutions and member organizations Institutions are humanly devised structures of rules and norms that shape and constrain individual behavior. All definitions of institutions generally entail that there is a level of persistence and continuity. Laws, rules, social conventions a ...
) ( Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR),
Hessischer Rundfunk Hessischer Rundfunk (HR; "Hesse Broadcasting") is the German state of Hesse's public broadcasting, public broadcasting corporation. Headquartered in Frankfurt, it is a member of the national consortium of German public broadcasting corporations, ...
(HR),
Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk (MDR; ''Central German Broadcasting'') is the public broadcaster for the federal states of Thuringia, Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt in Germany. Established in January 1991, its headquarters are in Leipzig, with regional studio ...
(MDR),
Norddeutscher Rundfunk Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR; ''Northern German Broadcasting'') is a public broadcasting, public radio and television broadcaster, based in Hamburg. In addition to the city-state of Hamburg, NDR broadcasts for the German states of Lower Saxony, M ...
(NDR),
Radio Bremen Radio Bremen (RB), Germany's smallest public radio and television broadcaster, is the legally mandated broadcaster for the city-state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (which includes Bremerhaven). With its headquarters sited in Bremen, Radio Brem ...
, Rundfunk Berlin–Brandenburg (RBB),
Saarländischer Rundfunk Saarländischer Rundfunk (SR; ''Saarland Broadcasting'') is a public radio and television broadcaster serving the German state of Saarland. With headquarters in the Halberg Broadcasting House in Saarbrücken, SR is a member of the ARD consort ...
(SR),
Südwestrundfunk Südwestrundfunk (SWR; ''Southwest Broadcasting'') is a regional public broadcasting corporation serving the southwest of Germany , specifically the federal states of Baden-Württemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate. The corporation has main offices ...
(SWR) and
Westdeutscher Rundfunk Westdeutscher Rundfunk Köln (''West German Broadcasting Cologne''; WDR, ) is a German public-broadcasting institution based in the Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia with its main office in Cologne. WDR is a constituent member of the conso ...
(WDR), which operate 54 regional and local radio stations and seven regional TV networks, some of which have opt outs at during the day.
Deutsche Welle Deutsche Welle (; "German Wave" in English), abbreviated to DW, is a German public, state-owned international broadcaster funded by the German federal tax budget. The service is available in 32 languages. DW's satellite television service con ...
, Germany's international broadcaster, is also a member of ARD.


History


Name

*german: italics=no, link=no, "Arbeitsgemeinschaft – der öffentlich-rechtlichen Rundfunkanstalten – der Bundesrepublik Deutschland" *'Consortium' ("Working group") – of the public-law broadcasting institutions – of the Federal Republic of Germany' public-law broadcasting institutions means
broadcasters Broadcaster may refer to: * A presenter of any syndicated media program * A broadcasting organization, one responsible for audio and video content and/or their transmission * A sports commentator on television or radio * Broadcaster, currently kn ...
which are not privately owned (german: italics=no, link=no, Privatradio and Privatfernsehen) and are not governmental radio or TV. ARD is not 'owned by' anybody, particularly not by "Germany" (meaning its government/federal state). ARD-members like BR ( Bayerischer Rundfunk) are not owned by their ''Land'' (state and its government, here
Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...
), either. With the ''Rundfunkfreiheit'' (freedom of broadcasting), they have an independent position (within a legal framework).


1940s and 1950s

The winning
Allies of World War II The Allies, formally referred to as the United Nations from 1942, were an international military coalition formed during the Second World War (1939–1945) to oppose the Axis powers, led by Nazi Germany, Imperial Japan, and Fascist Italy. ...
determined that German radio after
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
would not
broadcast Broadcasting is the distribution of audio or video content to a dispersed audience via any electronic mass communications medium, but typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum ( radio waves), in a one-to-many model. Broadcasting began ...
the same propaganda as the pre-war ''
Reichs-Rundfunk-Gesellschaft The Reichs-Rundfunk-Gesellschaft (RRG; ''Reich Broadcasting Corporation'') was a national network of German regional public radio and television broadcasting companies active from 1925 until 1945. RRG's broadcasts were receivable in all parts o ...
'' ("Reich Broadcasting Company"). A
federal Federal or foederal (archaic) may refer to: Politics General *Federal monarchy, a federation of monarchies *Federation, or ''Federal state'' (federal system), a type of government characterized by both a central (federal) government and states or ...
structure, the renunciation of state influence and the avoidance of economic dependence were to be the key of the radio and TV institutions under
public law Public law is the part of law that governs relations between legal persons and a government, between different institutions within a state, between different branches of governments, as well as relationships between persons that are of direct ...
(', public radio and television organisations). The legal form of the new entity was ''Anstalt des öffentlichen Rechts'' ("Institution under Public Law"), a non-government and nonprofit organisation with its own administration under the control of two commissions, the ''Rundfunkrat'' (Broadcasting Council, responsible for the programmed content) and the ''Verwaltungsrat'' (Administration Council, responsible for management and infrastructure), in which different stakeholders from German public life were represented. ARD's founding members were
Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk (NWDR; ''Northwest German Broadcasting'') was the organization responsible for public broadcasting in the German Länder of Hamburg, Lower Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein and North Rhine-Westphalia from 22 September 1945 to ...
(NWDR), the station for the former British zone, Südwestfunk (SWF), the station in the French zone, and four stations located in the former American sector— Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR), Süddeutscher Rundfunk (SDR),
Hessischer Rundfunk Hessischer Rundfunk (HR; "Hesse Broadcasting") is the German state of Hesse's public broadcasting, public broadcasting corporation. Headquartered in Frankfurt, it is a member of the national consortium of German public broadcasting corporations, ...
(HR), and
Radio Bremen Radio Bremen (RB), Germany's smallest public radio and television broadcaster, is the legally mandated broadcaster for the city-state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (which includes Bremerhaven). With its headquarters sited in Bremen, Radio Brem ...
(RB). The new entity was financed by an obligatory fee which every German household with at least one radio receiver paid. Each station received the money collected in its state. Larger ARD members subsidised smaller ones up to a certain extent. In 1947, American military governor
Lucius D. Clay General Lucius Dubignon Clay (April 23, 1898 – April 16, 1978) was a senior officer of the United States Army who was known for his administration of occupied Germany after World War II. He served as the deputy to General of the Army Dwight D ...
declared diversity of
public opinion Public opinion is the collective opinion on a specific topic or voting intention relevant to a society. It is the people's views on matters affecting them. Etymology The term "public opinion" was derived from the French ', which was first use ...
as the main aim of post-war
media policy Media policy / M. politics is a term describing all legislation and political action directed towards regulating the media, especially mass media, and the media industry. Those actions will usually be prompted by pressures from public opinion or f ...
. Individuals aligned with the post-war Allied forces in their respective sectors of Germany had a local influence on local regional broadcasters. NDR cites the influence of
Hugh Greene Sir Hugh Carleton Greene (15 November 1910 – 19 February 1987) was a British television executive and journalist. He was director-general of the BBC from 1960 to 1969. After working for newspapers in the 1930s, Greene spent most of his later ...
on the early years of their organisation. After the creation of individual broadcasting agencies for most German federal states these principles were further consolidated by ''
Länder Länder (singular Land) or Bundesländer (singular Bundesland) is the name for (federal) states in two German-speaking countries. It may more specifically refer to: * States of Austria, the nine federal subdivisions of Austria * States of Germany ...
'' broadcasting laws, decisions of the Federal Constitutional Court ('' Bundesverfassungsgericht'') and state treaties between the ''Länder''. ARD members are thus (at least nominally) free of government influence and rely for only a small part of their income on advertising (1995: ten percent). They are financed mainly from licence fees from radio and TV owners, which are set through a complex political process. The mandated aim of the ARD corporations is not only to
inform Inform is a programming language and design system for interactive fiction originally created in 1993 by Graham Nelson. Inform can generate programs designed for the Z-code or Glulx virtual machines. Versions 1 through 5 were released between ...
and to entertain, but also to encourage the integration of various parts of society and allow minorities a say in programming. In the 1950s the ARD radio services became the major factor of the mass media system in West Germany. As early as 1952 the ARD radio stations had ten million listeners. However, the radio stations operated on a regional level, and it was only the development of a television umbrella that helped the ARD to establish itself nationwide. The broadcasting of a countrywide TV broadcast service was the goal of the ARD from the outset and the go-ahead for this was given at the end of 1952. The same year ARD was admitted as a full active member of the
European Broadcasting Union The European Broadcasting Union (EBU; french: Union européenne de radio-télévision, links=no, UER) is an alliance of Public broadcasting, public service media organisations whose countries are within the European Broadcasting Area or who ar ...
and the "German sound archive", now
German Broadcasting Archive The German Broadcasting Archive (''Deutsches Rundfunkarchiv''; DRA) is a non-profit foundation supported by the ARD. It was founded in 1952 as "German sound archive". The DRA covers essential aspects of the development of German broadcasting. Today ...
(DRA, Deutsches Rundfunkarchiv), was established as a joint facility of the ARD. In 1955 the founding member ''NWDR'' ("Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk", English: "North-West German Broadcasting") split into today's NDR and WDR. The year before (1954) the smaller SFB was split off. The first daily
news News is information about current events. This may be provided through many different Media (communication), media: word of mouth, printing, Mail, postal systems, broadcasting, Telecommunications, electronic communication, or through the tes ...
feature, the ''
Tagesschau (German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality ...
'', went on the air from
Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...
in 1952. The famous 8:00 pm chime and announcement ''""'' ("This is the first German television channel with the Tagesschau") remains an ARD hallmark today. The broadcast attracts an average of 8 million viewers.


1960s–1980s

After starting with a schedule of a mere two hours per-night, television became more widespread in Germany in the 1960s. Color broadcasts were introduced in 1967. Without competition from private broadcasters (other than the francophone
Europe 1 Europe 1, formerly known as Europe n° 1, is a privately owned radio station created in 1955. Owned and operated by Lagardère Active, a subsidiary of the Lagardère Group, it is one of the leading radio broadcasting stations in France and its pro ...
and the multilingual RTL (Radio-Television Luxembourg) radio programs), the ARD stations made considerable progress in becoming modern and respected broadcasters.
ZDF ZDF (, short for Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen; ; "Second German Television") is a German public-service television broadcaster based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. It is run as an independent nonprofit institution, which was founded by all fe ...
(Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen, Second German Television), a second public television broadcaster with centralized national organization structure, began its programming in 1963, but ARD would encounter no private competition in Germany until 1984. The ARD stations have also been a significant force in
German politics Germany is a democratic and federal parliamentary republic, where federal legislative power is vested in the (the parliament of Germany) and the (the representative body of the , Germany's regional states). The federal system has, since 194 ...
; such investigative news magazines as ''Monitor'' and ''Panorama'' still reach millions of viewers every week. The
environmental movement The environmental movement (sometimes referred to as the ecology movement), also including conservation and green politics, is a diverse philosophical, social, and political movement for addressing environmental issues. Environmentalists a ...
increased in popularity during the 1980s largely as a result of the disclosures made by ARD. When private/commercial German-language broadcasters were admitted in Germany by federal law in the mid-1980s, ARD television made subtle changes, adapting somewhat by producing programs oriented to a larger audience for their national networks and shifting many cultural and news programs to the regional networks and to newly created niche channels. Informational television programs and the orientation of "
Deutschlandfunk Deutschlandfunk (DLF, ''Broadcast Germany'') is a public-broadcasting radio station in Germany, concentrating on news and current affairs. It is one of the four national radio channels produced by Deutschlandradio. History Broadcasting in the ...
" (Germany's national public radio station, associated with, but not a member of the ARD) programs towards the GDR were of importance to the eventual collapse of the GDR. Established in 1974, the ARD bureau in
East Berlin East Berlin was the ''de facto'' capital city of East Germany from 1949 to 1990. Formally, it was the Allied occupation zones in Germany, Soviet sector of Berlin, established in 1945. The American, British, and French sectors were known as ...
made ARD television the most important source of information for GDR citizens, eighty percent of whom could watch what they referred to as "Westfernsehen". Notwithstanding obstruction on the part of GDR authorities and the repeated expulsion of their correspondents, the ARD-Tagesschau and Deutschlandfunk transmitted reports about the
Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...
Monday Demonstrations (which started on 4 September 1989) as early as September 1989.


1990s

After unification and the closure of the GDR television service, two new regional broadcasters were established in the East, becoming ARD members in 1992. These were originally the
Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk (MDR; ''Central German Broadcasting'') is the public broadcaster for the federal states of Thuringia, Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt in Germany. Established in January 1991, its headquarters are in Leipzig, with regional studio ...
(MDR, English: "Central German Broadcasting"), and Ostdeutscher Rundfunk Brandenburg (ORB, English: "East German Broadcasting Brandenburg"). The existing NDR service expanded into the north-east, where it also covered
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (MV; ; nds, Mäkelborg-Vörpommern), also known by its anglicized name Mecklenburg–Western Pomerania, is a state in the north-east of Germany. Of the country's sixteen states, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern ranks 14th in po ...
. The ORB service has since merged with the former Sender Freies Berlin (SFB, English "Radio Free Berlin") to become Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (RBB, English: "Berlin-Brandenburg Broadcasting") in 2003. Another merger took place between two member organisations of the ARD in 1998. The former Süddeutscher Rundfunk (SDR, English: "Southern German Broadcasting") and Südwestfunk (SWF, English: "Southwestcast") became
Südwestrundfunk Südwestrundfunk (SWR; ''Southwest Broadcasting'') is a regional public broadcasting corporation serving the southwest of Germany , specifically the federal states of Baden-Württemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate. The corporation has main offices ...
(SWR, English: "Southwest Broadcasting") on 1 October 1998.


Programming


Radio

Today, ARD member stations usually produce their own radio programming. Some ARD member stations usually collaborate for common radio services (an example being Nordwestradio, a culture-oriented radio station co-produced by Radio Bremen and NDR). Most ARD stations, however, will have at least a news-oriented radio station, a classical-music station, a youth-oriented station, and a cultural station. At night some stations will relay common night programming produced on a rota system by the ARD stations themselves. There are four common night programming services: Hitnacht (light music), Nachtkonzert (classical music), Infonacht (all news) and Popnacht (pop music). Most services are on the
FM broadcast band The FM broadcast band is a range of radio frequencies used for FM broadcasting by radio stations. The range of frequencies used differs between different parts of the world. In Europe and Africa (defined as International Telecommunication Union (I ...
, though some services are also available on
DAB DAB, dab, dabs, or dabbing may refer to: Dictionaries * ''Dictionary of American Biography'', published under the auspices of the American Council of Learned Societies * ''Dictionary of Australian Biography'', published since 1949 Places * Dąb, ...
. A similar network intended for national coverage is called
Deutschlandradio Deutschlandradio (DLR) (''Radio Germany'') is a national German public radio broadcaster. History ''Deutschlandfunk'' was originally a West German news radio targeting listeners within West Germany as well as in neighbouring countries, ''Deutsc ...
, however Deutschlandradio is not an ARD member – instead Deutschlandradio is controlled by both ARD and ZDF. Deutschlandradio provides two terrestrial radio services:
Deutschlandfunk Deutschlandfunk (DLF, ''Broadcast Germany'') is a public-broadcasting radio station in Germany, concentrating on news and current affairs. It is one of the four national radio channels produced by Deutschlandradio. History Broadcasting in the ...
(DLF), a news-oriented service, and
Deutschlandfunk Kultur Deutschlandfunk Kultur (; abbreviated to ''DLF Kultur'' or ''DKultur'') is a culture-oriented radio station and part of Deutschlandradio, a set of national radio stations in Germany. Initially named ''DeutschlandRadio Berlin'', the station was ren ...
, a culture-oriented service. It also provides a science-orientated internet channel:
Deutschlandfunk Nova Deutschlandfunk Nova (; abbreviated ''DLF Nova''), formerly known as ''DRadio Wissen'', is a public broadcasting radio station and part of Deutschlandradio. The program is aimed at students and young adults. Their broadcasting studios are situated ...
. ARD's best known radio station outside Germany is
Deutsche Welle Deutsche Welle (; "German Wave" in English), abbreviated to DW, is a German public, state-owned international broadcaster funded by the German federal tax budget. The service is available in 32 languages. DW's satellite television service con ...
, which broadcasts its radio services around the world in many languages, mostly on analogue shortwave radio, online and FM partner stations. Deutsche Welle has no FM distribution in Germany. "Archivradio" is an ARD internet radio station which streams raw audio material from German sound archives, mainly the ARD radio archives and the DRA. The program is accompanied by a web portal run by the ARD-member SWR, with background information of the original sounds aired.


Television

The main television channels of the ARD are the nationwide
Das Erste Das Erste (; "The First") is the flagship national television channel of the ARD association of public broadcasting corporations in Germany. ''Das Erste'' is jointly operated by the nine regional public broadcasting corporations that are member ...
and seven regional channels operated by the different regional broadcasting institutions. These channels were available on the analogue terrestrial transmitters until the shutdown of the analogue transmitters started in 2003. Das Erste and the third programmes, like the radio stations, are principally funded by licence fees, with a very limited amount of on-air advertising. Das Erste broadcasts nationwide 24 hours a day, although the schedule does include four and a half hours of joint programming with ZDF each weekday, in the form of the news programmes '' Morgenmagazin'' (on air 5.30–9.00) and '' Mittagsmagazin'' (13.00–14.00), which the two organizations take weekly turns to produce. Audience share (March 2008):12.5%, from 14 to 49 years 6.9%. The regional members of ARD all, jointly (NDR/rb and SWR/SR) or separately, operate their own regional channels, known collectively as '' die Dritten'' ("the Third Programmes") – before recent rebranding, most of these stations had names like West 3 and Hessen 3. The schedules of these regional channels also include sub-regional opt-outs at certain times, in particular for local news. *
BR Fernsehen Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR; "Bavarian Broadcasting") is a public-service radio and television broadcaster, based in Munich, capital city of the Free State of Bavaria in Germany. BR is a member organization of the ARD consortium of public broadcas ...
from Bayerischer Rundfunk (sub-regional opt-outs:
Altbayern Altbayern ( Bavarian: ''Oidbayern'', also written Altbaiern, English: "Old Bavaria") is the territory and people of the three oldest parts of the Free State of Bavaria, which were earlier known as Kurbayern (English: "Electoral Bavaria") after the ...
und
Schwaben Swabia ; german: Schwaben , colloquially ''Schwabenland'' or ''Ländle''; archaic English also Suabia or Svebia is a cultural, historic and linguistic region in southwestern Germany. The name is ultimately derived from the medieval Duchy of ...
(South), Franken (North)) *
hr-fernsehen hr-fernsehen is the regional television channel of Hessischer Rundfunk for the state of Hesse, Germany. Overview The channel focuses on regional reporting. In addition to the afternoon programme ''hallo hessen'' and the weeknightly tabloid magaz ...
from
Hessischer Rundfunk Hessischer Rundfunk (HR; "Hesse Broadcasting") is the German state of Hesse's public broadcasting, public broadcasting corporation. Headquartered in Frankfurt, it is a member of the national consortium of German public broadcasting corporations, ...
*
MDR Fernsehen MDR Fernsehen is a regional public service television channel owned and operated by Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk (MDR) and serving Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia Thuringia (; german: Thüringen ), officially the Free State of Thuringia ( ) ...
from
Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk (MDR; ''Central German Broadcasting'') is the public broadcaster for the federal states of Thuringia, Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt in Germany. Established in January 1991, its headquarters are in Leipzig, with regional studio ...
(opt-outs: state programmes for
Saxony Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...
,
Sachsen-Anhalt Saxony-Anhalt (german: Sachsen-Anhalt ; nds, Sassen-Anholt) is a state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia and Lower Saxony. It covers an area of and has a population of 2.18 million inhabitants, making it the ...
, Thuringia) *
NDR Fernsehen NDR Fernsehen is a German free-to-air regional television channel targeting northern Germany, specifically the states of Schleswig-Holstein, Lower Saxony, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Hamburg and Bremen. It is broadcast by both Norddeutscher Rundfun ...
from
Norddeutscher Rundfunk Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR; ''Northern German Broadcasting'') is a public broadcasting, public radio and television broadcaster, based in Hamburg. In addition to the city-state of Hamburg, NDR broadcasts for the German states of Lower Saxony, M ...
(opt-outs: state programmes for
Lower Saxony Lower Saxony (german: Niedersachsen ; nds, Neddersassen; stq, Läichsaksen) is a German state (') in northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ...
, Schleswig-Holstein,
Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...
, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and
rb.tv Radio Bremen (RB), Germany's smallest Public broadcasting, public radio and television broadcaster, is the legally mandated broadcaster for the city-state Bremen (state), Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (which includes Bremerhaven). With its head ...
from
Radio Bremen Radio Bremen (RB), Germany's smallest public radio and television broadcaster, is the legally mandated broadcaster for the city-state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (which includes Bremerhaven). With its headquarters sited in Bremen, Radio Brem ...
) * RBB Fernsehen from
Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (; "Berlin-Brandenburg Broadcasting"; abbreviated: RBB , stylized as rbb) is an institution under public law (national broadcaster) for the German states of Berlin and Brandenburg, based in Berlin and Potsdam. RBB ...
(opt-outs: separate state programmes) *
SWR Fernsehen SWR Fernsehen is a German regional television channel targeting the states of Baden-Württemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate. It is produced by Südwestrundfunk (SWR) and is one of eight regional "third channels" broadcast by the ARD members. Hist ...
from
Südwestrundfunk Südwestrundfunk (SWR; ''Southwest Broadcasting'') is a regional public broadcasting corporation serving the southwest of Germany , specifically the federal states of Baden-Württemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate. The corporation has main offices ...
– in collaboration with
SR Fernsehen SR Fernsehen is a regional public service television channel owned and operated by Saarländischer Rundfunk (SR) and serving Saarland. It is one of the seven regional "third programmes" that are offered within the federal ARD network. The chan ...
(opt-outs: state programmes for
Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million inhabitants across a ...
, Rhineland-Palatinate and
SR Fernsehen SR Fernsehen is a regional public service television channel owned and operated by Saarländischer Rundfunk (SR) and serving Saarland. It is one of the seven regional "third programmes" that are offered within the federal ARD network. The chan ...
from
Saarländischer Rundfunk Saarländischer Rundfunk (SR; ''Saarland Broadcasting'') is a public radio and television broadcaster serving the German state of Saarland. With headquarters in the Halberg Broadcasting House in Saarbrücken, SR is a member of the ARD consort ...
) *
WDR Fernsehen WDR Fernsehen is a German free-to-air television network owned and operated by Westdeutscher Rundfunk and serving North Rhine-Westphalia. It is one of the seven regional "third programmes" television stations that are offered within the federal ...
from
Westdeutscher Rundfunk Westdeutscher Rundfunk Köln (''West German Broadcasting Cologne''; WDR, ) is a German public-broadcasting institution based in the Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia with its main office in Cologne. WDR is a constituent member of the conso ...
. (11 local opt-outs within
North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a States of Germany, state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more tha ...
) ARD has two additional channels as part of their
ARD Digital ARD is a joint organisation of Germany's regional public-service broadcasters. It was founded in 1950 in West Germany to represent the common interests of the new, decentralised, post-war broadcasting services – in particular the introduction ...
package: *
Tagesschau24 Tagesschau24 (stylized as tagesschau24) is a German free-to-air television channel owned by ARD and managed by Norddeutscher Rundfunk. It was launched on 30 August 1997 as "EinsExtra" before the introduction of its current name on 1 May 2012. ...
– television news channel *
One 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...
– entertainment television channel ARD is also involved in several joint venture channels: *
3sat In logic and computer science, the Boolean satisfiability problem (sometimes called propositional satisfiability problem and abbreviated SATISFIABILITY, SAT or B-SAT) is the problem of determining if there exists an interpretation that satisfie ...
with
ZDF ZDF (, short for Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen; ; "Second German Television") is a German public-service television broadcaster based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. It is run as an independent nonprofit institution, which was founded by all fe ...
,
ORF ORF or Orf may refer to: * Norfolk International Airport, IATA airport code ORF * Observer Research Foundation, an Indian research institute * One Race Films, a film production company founded by Vin Diesel * Open reading frame, a portion of the ...
and SRG: a cultural channel *
KI.KA KiKA (contraction of ''Der KinderKAnal von ARD und ZDF''  ARD and ZDF">ARD_(broadcaster).html" ;"title="he Children's Channel of ARD (broadcaster)">ARD and ZDF]) is a German free-to-air television channel based in Erfurt, Germany. It is man ...
with ZDF: a children's channel * Arte with ZDF and
France Télévisions France Télévisions (; stylized since 2018 as ) is the French national public television broadcaster. It is a state-owned company formed from the integration of the public television channels France 2 (formerly Antenne 2) and France 3 (former ...
: a Franco-German cultural channel *
Phoenix Phoenix most often refers to: * Phoenix (mythology), a legendary bird from ancient Greek folklore * Phoenix, Arizona, a city in the United States Phoenix may also refer to: Mythology Greek mythological figures * Phoenix (son of Amyntor), a ...
with ZDF: a news and documentary channel, focussed on showing press conferences and political debates in the German parliament live, in addition to historical and political features. The international broadcaster
Deutsche Welle Deutsche Welle (; "German Wave" in English), abbreviated to DW, is a German public, state-owned international broadcaster funded by the German federal tax budget. The service is available in 32 languages. DW's satellite television service con ...
also produces television services; however these services are mostly available via satellite.


Podcasts

The ''Tagesschau'', produced by the ARD on a nightly basis, is available on the ARD website as a podcast (available as audio-only or as audio and video). Other audio programs from the ARD's members (e.g., BR, MDR) and
Deutsche Welle Deutsche Welle (; "German Wave" in English), abbreviated to DW, is a German public, state-owned international broadcaster funded by the German federal tax budget. The service is available in 32 languages. DW's satellite television service con ...
are available as podcasts, through their respective websites.


Institutions and member organizations

ARD has 30 correspondents' offices in 26 countries. ARD operates several other companies and institutions, sometimes jointly with ZDF:
Degeto Film Degeto Film Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung, GmbH (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Ton und Bild) is a film rights trader and production company of the ARD (broadcaster), ARD, based in Frankfurt am Main. Its shareholders are the ARD (broadcaster ...
, a television rights trader and production company; the
German Broadcasting Archive The German Broadcasting Archive (''Deutsches Rundfunkarchiv''; DRA) is a non-profit foundation supported by the ARD. It was founded in 1952 as "German sound archive". The DRA covers essential aspects of the development of German broadcasting. Today ...
(DRA – Deutsches Rundfunkarchiv); the Institute for Broadcasting Technology (IRT – Institut für Rundfunktechnik), responsible for research and development; the Fee Collection Service (Beitragsservice), and others. ARD is a supporter of the
Hybrid Broadcast Broadband TV Hybrid Broadcast Broadband TV (HbbTV) is both an industry standard ( European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) TS 102 796) and promotional initiative for hybrid digital TV to harmonise the broadcast, Internet Protocol Television (I ...
(HbbTV) initiative that is promoting and establishing an open European standard for hybrid set-top boxes for the reception of broadcast TV and broadband multimedia applications with a single user interface.


Chairs of the ARD


Logo

File:ARD first logo.svg, ARD's first logo used from 1950 until 1970. File:Altes-ARD Logo.svg, ARD's second logo used from 1970 until 1984. File:Ard84bis03.svg, ARD's third logo used from 1984 until 2003. File:ARD logo.svg, ARD's fourth logo used from 2003 until 2019. File:ARD_Logo_2019.svg, ARD's fifth and current logo used since December 2019.


Criticism


Criticism by political parties

Since it was founded in 2013, the German party AfD has accused the German broadcasters of being state-driven propaganda machines. This claim is heavily disputed. For example, a 2019 study from Oxford (p. 24) stated that the majority of the audience of German public broadcasters ARD, ZDF and "Deutschland Radio" are left-winged or left of the center of the political spectrum. The AfD took this to show that the broadcaster is biased and contributing to a left-shift in the political environment. The majority of German newspapers have responded that the AfD have misunderstood the Oxford study, and accused the AfD of spreading ''fake news''. Another point of evidence offered is that ARD board member and Director for Programming Christine Strobl is not only a member of the CDU party herself, but also the daughter of Wolfgang Schäuble, a prominent CDU member of parliament. As Director for Programming she is in a position to stop or initiate the production of programs, but also potentially editorial decisions.


Neutrality

After the ARD withdrew material critical of the Turkish president
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (born 26 February 1954) is a Turkish politician serving as the List of presidents of Turkey, 12th and current president of Turkey since 2014. He previously served as prime minister of Turkey from 2003 to 2014 and as Lis ...
, a journalist from the magazine ''
Der Spiegel ''Der Spiegel'' (, lit. ''"The Mirror"'') is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. With a weekly circulation of 695,100 copies, it was the largest such publication in Europe in 2011. It was founded in 1947 by John Seymour Chaloner ...
'' compared this behaviour in an opinion article to the
Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union The Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (, abbreviated: ), or Politburo ( rus, Политбюро, p=pəlʲɪtbʲʊˈro) was the highest policy-making authority within the Communist Party of the ...
. To get rid of the "annoying image of state radio", the journalist recommends it would certainly be helpful to keep more distance from the government.


Framing manual

Claudia Schwartz from the ''
Neue Zürcher Zeitung The ''Neue Zürcher Zeitung'' (''NZZ''; "New Journal of Zürich") is a Swiss, German-language daily newspaper, published by NZZ Mediengruppe in Zürich. The paper was founded in 1780. It was described as having a reputation as a high-quality ne ...
'' reported in February 2019 the ARD wanted to impress upon its audience certain moral views. A manual from the "Berkeley International Framing Institute" (see sources below) was used internally in order to make ARD viewers consider their fees less as a compulsory contribution than as a kind of donation to a good cause. Claudia Schwartz commented: "Self-congratulation is in the best tradition of state radio." But the website
Netzpolitik.org netzpolitik.org is a German language news website on digital rights and digital culture. Among other topics, it covers mass surveillance, open source software, data protection and privacy and net neutrality. The blog was founded in 2002 by Mark ...
(who published the original document), came to the conclusion that "Many of the proposed frames, which are currently heating the minds of many critics, have never been used in public by the public broadcasters representatives. This also shows that the excitement about the report is too high."


See also

*
Television in Germany Television in Germany began in Berlin on 22 March 1935, broadcasting for 90 minutes three times a week. It was home to the first public television station in the world, named ''Fernsehsender Paul Nipkow''. In 2000, the German television market h ...
*
Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen ZDF (, short for Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen; ; "Second German Television") is a German public-service television broadcaster based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. It is run as an independent nonprofit institution, which was founded by all fed ...
(Second German TV channel) *
List of German-language television channels The List of German-language television channels includes the following channels: Austria Germany Italy :South Tyrol * Rai Südtirol * Südtirol Digital Fernsehen * Südtirol Heute Liechtenstein Switzerland Other countries Programmes ...


Notes


References


Sources

* * * * *


External links

*
Official information about ARD in English
(PDF document)
Live ARD Radio

ARD Radio Guide
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ard (Broadcaster) Publicly funded broadcasters Television networks in Germany German-language television networks Television stations in Germany European Broadcasting Union members 1950 establishments in West Germany Organizations established in 1950