ZDF Musikkanal was the name of a

television channel A television channel is a terrestrial frequency or virtual number over which a television station or television network is distributed. For example, in North America, "channel 2" refers to the terrestrial or cable band of 54 to 60 MHz, with ...

operated by

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 ...

which had started broadcasting on 1 January 1984 as part of the ''cable pilot projects'' 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 ...

. The station broadcast a moderated programme with a thematic focus on music. The programmes broadcast came almost exclusively from the archives of the ZDF main programme. The ZDF Musikkanal remained on air as an independent programme until 31 December 1988, and from January 1989 it was broadcast as a programme window before the

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 ...

programme and was later fully integrated into

. Until then, however, it remained an independent programme brand for music programmes within 3sat until the end of 1993. With the cessation of broadcasting on 30 November 1993 of the cultural channel Eins Plus organized by ARD and the associated participation of ARD in 3sat from 1 December 1993, an extensive programme reform followed, as a result of which the ZDF music channel's programme line was discontinued. Initially, the station was broadcast only in the so-called ''cable pilot projects'': from 1 January 1984 in the cable pilot project of

Ludwigshafen am Rhein Ludwigshafen, officially Ludwigshafen am Rhein (; meaning " Ludwig's Port upon Rhine"), is a city in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, on the river Rhine, opposite Mannheim. With Mannheim, Heidelberg, and the surrounding region, it form ...

, from April 1984 also in

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 ...

, from 1 June 1985 in

Dortmund Dortmund (; Westphalian nds, Düörpm ; la, Tremonia) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the eighth-largest city of Germany, with a population of 588,250 inhabitants as of 2021. It is the la ...

, from 28 August 1985 in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

and later in the regular cable network. With the abandonment of the program's independence, the station was available throughout

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

as part of 3sat via the satellites

Astra 1A Astra 1A was the first satellite launched and operated by SES (Société Européenne des Satellites), launched in December 1988. During its early days, it was often referred to as the Astra Satellite, as SES only operated one satellite original ...

and

DFS-Kopernikus DFS Kopernikus (meaning ''Deutscher Fernmeldesatellit Kopernikus'') was the name of three geostationary satellites of Deutsche Bundespost and later Deutsche Telekom AG. They are no longer in use. DFS Kopernicus-3 When DFS Kopernikus-3 was near ...

from 1989 onwards. In the context of independence, a three-hour evening programme was initially offered daily, later this was extended to up to 6 hours between 16:00 and 22:00. With the change to 3sat the station was only reduced from 14:30 to 17:20 on weekdays, on weekends there were no more transmission distances. Recurring programmes were

ZDF-Hitparade The ''ZDF-Hitparade'', or ''Hitparade'' for short, by German TV channel ZDF, was one of the most popular and most well-known music television series presenting mostly German Schlager. From 1969 to 1984 the presenter was Dieter Thomas Heck. The ...

Disco Disco is a genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the 1970s from the United States' urban nightlife scene. Its sound is typified by four-on-the-floor beats, syncopated basslines, string sections, brass and horns, electric pia ...

or ''P. I. T. – Peter-Illmann-Treff''. One of the few in-house productions was the studio programme ''Gast im Studio''. Folk music programmes or classical music were also included in the programme. Isolated series with a focus on music were also broadcast, such as the ZDF production from 1980 ''...und die Tuba bläst der Huber'' broadcast in 1988.

References

External links

* {{ARD/ZDF German-language television stations Defunct television channels in Germany Television channels and stations established in 1984 Television channels and stations disestablished in 1993 1984 establishments in Germany 1993 disestablishments in Germany Mass media in Mainz ZDF