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Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk

Type	Broadcast radio, television and online
Country	Germany
Headquarters	Leipzig, Germany
Key people	Karola Wille, Intendant
Launch date	1991
Official website	www.mdr.de

Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk (Central German Broadcasting, MDR) is the public broadcaster for the federal states of Thuringia, Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt. Established in January 1991, its headquarters are in Leipzig, with regional studios in Dresden, Erfurt and Magdeburg. MDR is a member of the ARD consortium of public broadcasters in Germany.

MDR broadcasts its own television channel to the three states it serves and also contributes programming to the first German TV channel (Das Erste), and broadcasts a number of radio channels.

Studios and staff

MDR headquarters in Leipzig

MDR has approximately 2000 employees. The main television studio is in Leipzig, and the main radio studio is in Halle. There are also radio and TV studios in each of the three state capitals for the territory that MDR represents: Dresden (Saxony), Erfurt (Thuringia), and Magdeburg (Saxony-Anhalt).

Finances

In 2012 87% of MDR's total annual income of €684,529,979 ^[1] was derived from the licence fees payable by all households at the rate of €17,50 (per month).^[2]
These fees are not collected directly by MDR but by the Beitragsservice ("fee collection service") owned jointly by ARD (and its members), the second television network ZDF, and the national radio broadcaster Deutschlandradio.

Programmes

MDR produces programming independently and in collaboration with other broadcasters, for transmission by a number of television and radio networks.

Television channels

• 
  MDR Fernsehen - third TV channel for central Germany, with regional programming for Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia
  

MDR also contributes programming to the following:

• 
  Das Erste - Germany's main public TV network


• 
  Phoenix - a station mainly broadcasting documentaries, special events and discussions, jointly run by ARD and ZDF
  


• 
  KiKa - children's network run jointly run by ARD and ZDF


• 
  arte - a Franco-German cultural channel


• 
  3sat - cultural network from ARD, ZDF, ORF (Austrian Broadcasting), and SRG (Swiss Broadcasting)

Radio channels

• MDR Sachsen (MDR Saxony) - regional programming for Saxony


• MDR Sachsen-Anhalt (MDR Saxony-Anhalt) - regional programming for Saxony-Anhalt


• MDR Thüringen (MDR Thuringia) - regional programming for Thuringia


• 
  MDR Jump - pop music


• 
  MDR Kultur - culture & spoken word programming and regional classical music


• 
  MDR Aktuell - 24h news and information (AM broadcasts ceased on April 30, 2013)


• 
  MDR Sputnik - youth oriented music station. Formerly DT64 cultural youth channel of East German broadcasting organisation. (FM in Saxony-Anhalt only, internet, DAB+ elsewhere)


• 
  MDR Klassik (DAB+ and internet streaming only) - classical music

Musical organizations

The MDR operates two musical organizations and a ballet corps.

The MDR Symphony Orchestra (German: MDR Sinfonieorchester) was founded in 1915 as "Orchester des Konzertvereins" ("Orchestra of the Concert Society"). It became the "Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Leipzig" ("Radio Symphony Orchestra Leipzig") in 1924. Principal conductors have included Herbert Kegel, Wolf-Dieter Hauschild, Daniel Nazareth and Fabio Luisi. Since September 2007, Jun Märkl is the orchestra's principal conductor.

The MDR Radio Choir (German: MDR Rundfunkchor) was founded in 1946 as the "Rundfunkchor Leipzig" ("Leipzig Radio Choir").

The MDR managed MDR TV Ballet (German: MDR Fernsehballett), the only TV ballet company in Europe. It was founded in 1962 as DFF-Fernsehballet, reorganized in 1992, and has 30 members. MDR sold the Ballet in 2012. It's now known as Deutsches Fernsehballett.

Transmitters

MDR does not own its own transmission towers. They are owned and operated by Deutsche Telekom.

Podcasts

Several podcasts produced by MDR are available through the iTunes Music Store and via RSS. They are essentially repeats of regular radio programmes, including: "Figaro," "MDR Info," "Programming Highlights," "Riverboat," "Sputnik" and "Unter uns."

History

From 1991 to 2011 the Managing Director was Udo Reiter (de), followed by Karola Wille.

Popular MDR productions

MDR produces several programs for the ARD, including crime drama episodes for the series Tatort ("Crime Scene") and Polizeiruf 110 ("Police Emergency 110"). MDR also produces the successful hospital series In aller Freundschaft ("In friendship") and the animal series Abenteuer Zoo ("Adventure Zoo"), Deutschlands wilde Tiere ("Germany's Wild Animals") and Europas wilder Osten ("Europe's Wild East").

See also

• German television

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk.

• 
  MDR Homepage (in German)