ORF 2 (''ORF zwei'', formerly FS 2) is an Austrian

public television channel Public broadcasting involves radio, television and other electronic media outlets whose primary mission is public service. Public broadcasters receive funding from diverse sources including license fees, individual contributions, public financing ...

owned by

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 ...

. It was launched on 11 September 1961 as a technical test programme. Today it is one of the four public TV channels in Austria. ORF 2 is available via

DVB-T DVB-T, short for Digital Video Broadcasting – Terrestrial, is the DVB European-based consortium standard for the broadcast transmission of digital terrestrial television that was first published in 1997 and first broadcast in Singapore in Febr ...

in Germany near the Austrian border and in parts of

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

. It is funded by a mixture of advertising breaks and a television licence fee; as such, unlike its German equivalents (which are generally available

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 ...

), ORF 2 and its sister stations are encrypted over satellite.

History

ORF 2 started broadcasting three days a week as a "Technical Test Program" (''Technisches Versuchsprogramm'') on 11 September 1961. In 1967, the ''Versuchsprogramm'' was renamed as FS 2 (''Fernsehprogramm 2''; 'Television programme 2'), and its broadcasting days were increased to five days a week, which remained the case until 1 September 1970 when it began broadcasting daily. On 2 May 1988, regional news programmes known as ''Bundesland heute'' (The States Today) were introduced for each Austrian state. On 26 October 1992, FS 2 was renamed as ORF 2. On 9 January 2012, a complete design change took place, similar to that of ORF eins a year prior. In line with the clear design of ORF eins, a vertical navigation bar was introduced as a central on-air element to join together programme credits, idents, promotions and commercial breaks. The red and white design is designed to underline the strong Austrian identity of the station.

Programming

In contrast to ORF 1, which focuses on TV series, movies and sports, ORF 2 broadcasts more Austrian-oriented and cultural programs. The most important news broadcast '' Zeit im Bild'' is broadcast several times a day, with the flagship bulletin being broadcast at 7:30pm each night. ''Bundesland heute'' (news for the federal states) is broadcast directly before this at 7:00pm; nine regional window programs are broadcast – one for each state. In the broadcasting area of Tyrol and in South Tyrol, which is part of Italy,

Südtirol heute Südtirol Heute (German for ''South Tyrol Today'') is a television programme of the Austrian ORF, which is broadcast in Austria and relayed by the Rundfunk Anstalt Südtirol (RAS) in South Tyrol, Italy. The programme covers news from all three parts ...

is broadcast from Monday to Friday at 6:30 pm, which is produced by the ORF studio in

Bolzano Bolzano ( or ; german: Bozen, (formerly ); bar, Bozn; lld, Balsan or ) is the capital city of the province of South Tyrol in northern Italy. With a population of 108,245, Bolzano is also by far the largest city in South Tyrol and the third la ...

(until March, 2021 by the ORF Landesstudio Tirol in

Innsbruck Innsbruck (; bar, Innschbruck, label=Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian ) is the capital of Tyrol (state), Tyrol and the List of cities and towns in Austria, fifth-largest city in Austria. On the Inn (river), River Inn, at its junction with the ...

Entertainment

*''

Eurovision Choir Eurovision Choir (formerly Eurovision Choir of the Year) is choir, choral competition organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and the and modeled after the latter's World Choir Games. Participation is open to member broadcasters of ...

'' (2017) *'' Eurovision Young Musicians''

Information

*'' Zeit im Bild''

Series

*'' Gomorrah'' ''(Gomorrha – Die Serie)'' (2015–2016) *''

Murder, She Wrote ''Murder, She Wrote'' is an American crime drama television series, created by Peter S. Fischer, Richard Levinson and William Link, starring Angela Lansbury, and produced and distributed by Universal Television for the CBS network. The series f ...

'' *'' Outlander'' *'' Prime Suspect'' ''(Heißer Verdacht)'' (2009, 2011) *''

Seinfeld ''Seinfeld'' ( ) is an American television sitcom created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld. It aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, over nine seasons and List of Seinfeld episodes, 180 episodes. It stars Seinfeld as Jerry Seinfeld ( ...

'' *''

Tatort ''Tatort'' ("Crime scene") is a German language police procedural television series that has been running continuously since 1970 with some 30 feature-length episodes per year, which makes it the longest-running German TV drama. Developed by ...

'' (2006–present)

Reception

All nine regional feeds of ORF 2 can be received via satellite: these are all encrypted and can only be watched by viewers who have an ORF viewing card, which is available to anyone who pays the ORF licence fee. An international version of ORF 2, known as

ORF 2 Europe ORF 2 Europe is a free-to-air version of the Austrian TV channel ORF 2. The service differs from the Austrian version in that some programs are replaced with a video simulcast of Ö1 International Radio Austria 1 International (Ö1 Internationa ...

, has been broadcast unencrypted over satellite in Europe since July 2004; certain programmes for which ORF does not have the rights to broadcast outside Austria are replaced with a video feed of ORF 2's teletext service, accompanied by the audio of Ö1. Many of ORF 2's programmes, such as some Zeit im Bild bulletins, are also broadcast or repeated on

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 ...

. Since October 2006, ORF 2 has been broadcast terrestrially via

in Austria. Via multiplex A, the regional feed of the viewer's own state can be received, as well as that of a neighboring federal state.

Branding

From 1968 until 1992, ORF 2 prominently featured the red "ORF eye" logo in its television idents alongside several stylised number "2" logos. In 1992, the first version of the "yellow cube" ORF 2 logo was introduced, designed by Neville Brody. In 2000, ORF 2's logo was updated into a moving, cube with the number 2 inside. This particular logo has been nicknamed "Jelli." In 2005, there was another update to ORF's on-screen design: to avoid the

logo A logo (abbreviation of logotype; ) is a graphic mark, emblem, or symbol used to aid and promote public identification and recognition. It may be of an abstract or figurative design or include the text of the name it represents as in a wordma ...

being burnt in to plasma screens, it was changed from red-yellow to grey all-over. In 2010, it was announced that ORF 2 would be rebranded as "ORF zwei" in 2011, but it's unused.

Logos

File:ORF 2 Logo 1968-1975.svg, Logo from 1968 to 1975 File:ORF 2 Logo 1975-1980.svg, Logo from 1975 to 1979 File:ORF 2 Logo 1980-1992.svg, Logo from 1979 to 1992 File:ORF 2 Logo 1992-2000.svg, Logo from 1992 to 2000 File:ORF-2-Logo.svg, Logo from 5 October 2000 to 16 August 2005 File:ORF2 logo.svg, Logo from 17 August 2005 to 9 January 2012 File:ORF 2 HD.svg, ORF 2 HD logo from 5 December 2009 to 9 January 2012 File:ORFzwei.svg, Logo of project "ORF zwei" in January 2011 File:ORF2 logo n.svg, Logo since 9 January 2012 File:ORF 2 HD logo.svg, ORF 2 HD logo since 9 January 2012

References

External links

ORF 2 TV listings
{{DEFAULTSORT:Orf2 Television stations in Austria Television channels and stations established in 1961 1961 establishments in Austria ORF (broadcaster)