ORF 2 (''ORF zwei'', formerly FS2) is an Austrian public television channel owned by ORF. 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 Feb ...

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 German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and ...

. It is funded by a mixture of advertising breaks and a

television licence 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 ...

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 appropriate receiving equipment to receive the signal and view or listen to the content without requiring a subscripti ...

), 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 FS2 (''Fernsehen 2''; 'Television 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, FS2 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 ''Zeit im Bild (ZiB)'' is the name for the television news broadcasts of ORF, running since December 1955. History The first ''Zeit im Bild'' was broadcast on December 5, 1955; two editions were broadcast that day, at 5pm and 7:30pm. The form ...

'' 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 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 ...

(until March, 2021 by the ORF Landesstudio Tirol in

Innsbruck Innsbruck (; bar, Innschbruck, label=Austro-Bavarian ) is the capital of Tyrol and the fifth-largest city in Austria. On the River Inn, at its junction with the Wipp Valley, which provides access to the Brenner Pass to the south, it had a p ...

Entertainment

*'' Eurovision Choir'' (2017) *''

Eurovision Young Musicians The Eurovision Young Musicians (), often shortened to EYM, or Young Musicians, is a biennial classical music competition for European musicians that are aged between 12 and 21. It is organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and broadcast ...

Information

*''

Series

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

Prime Suspect ''Prime Suspect'' is a British police procedural television drama series devised by Lynda La Plante. It stars Helen Mirren as Jane Tennison, one of the first female Detective Chief Inspectors in Greater London's Metropolitan Police Service, who ...

'' ''(Heißer Verdacht)'' (2009, 2011) *''

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 b ...

'' (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, 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 Österreich 1 (Ö1) is an Austrian radio station: one of the four national channels operated by Austria's public broadcaster ORF. It focuses on classical music and opera, jazz, documentaries and features, news, radio plays and dramas, ''Kabarett' ...

. 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 satisfies ...

. 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.

Logos and identities

File:ORF 2 Logo 1992-2000.svg, Logo from 1992 to 2000 File:ORF-2-Logo.svg, 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)