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ZDF
Launched	1 April 1963; 55 years ago (1963-04-01)
Picture format	576i (16:9 SDTV) 720p (1080p (DVB-T2 only)) (HDTV)
Audience share	15.5% (July 2018 (2018-07), KEK)
Slogan	Mit dem Zweiten sieht man besser.
Country	Germany
Language	German
Broadcast area	Germany; also distributed in: Austria Luxembourg Switzerland Liechtenstein Slovenia Belgium Italy Netherlands Denmark Kosovo
Headquarters	Mainz-Lerchenberg, Germany
Replaced	ARD 2 (1961–1963)
Sister channel(s)	ZDFneo ZDFinfo
Website	www.zdf.de
Availability
Terrestrial
DVB-T (SD) / DVB-T2 (HD)	Various; region dependent
Satellite
Astra 19.2°E (Europe)	11.953 GHz Horizontal SR: 27500 FEC: 3/4 SID: 28006 Video PID: 110 Audio PID: 120 Stereo, 125 Dolby Digital
Astra 19.2°E (DVB-S2 HDTV) (Europe)	11.362 GHz Horizontal SR: 22000 FEC: 2/3 SID: 11110 Video PID: 6110 Audio PID: 6120 Stereo, 6122 Dolby Digital
Cable
Kabel Deutschland (Germany)	Channel 102 (SD) / Channel 113 (HD)
Unitymedia (Germany)	Channel 302 (SD) / Channel 2 (HD)
NetCologne (Germany)	Channel 2 (SD) / Channel 102 (HD)
Cablecom (Switzerland)	Yes (SD and HD) SD – Channel 006 (digital CH-D)
Naxoo (Switzerland)	Channel 154
Ziggo (Netherlands)	Channel 55 (HD)
YouSee (Denmark)	Channel 52
IPTV
Telekom Entertain (Germany)	Channel 2 (SD) / Channel 402 (HD)
A1 TV (Austria)	Channel 19 (SD) / Channel 319 (HD)
Streaming media
ZDF.de	Watch live (Germany only)
FilmOn	Watch live
Horizon Go	Horizon.tv (Germany only) Horizon.tv (Switzerland only)
Ziggo GO	ZiggoGO.tv (Netherlands only)

Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (German pronunciation: [ˌtsvaɪ̯təs ˌdɔʏ̯tʃəs ˈfɛɐ̯nzeːən]; English: Second German Television), usually shortened to ZDF, 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 federal states of Germany (Bundesländer). ZDF is financed by television licence fees and advertising revenues.^[1]

The broadcaster is well known for its famous programmes heute, a newscast established in 1963, and Wetten, dass..? an entertainment show premiered in 1981, and ended in 2014.^[2]Thomas Bellut, ZDF's director general, was elected by the ZDF Television Council in 2011.^[2]

History

The ZDF administrative headquarters in Mainz

The ZDF broadcasting centre in Mainz

ZDF was founded in 1961 by interstate agreement, after the West German federal government's plan to set up a TV channel controlled by the federal government caused uproar. West Germany's constitution stipulated that regulation of culture and media was a compentency of the federal states (Bundesländer). The station began broadcasting from Eschborn near Frankfurt am Main on 1 April 1963, with a speech by the first director general (Intendant), Dr. Karl Holzamer. The channel broadcast its first programme in colour in 1967. In 1974, ZDF moved its base of operations to Mainz-Lerchenberg, after briefly being located in Wiesbaden. From 5 October 1996 ZDF broadcasts 24 hours a day. In 1960, the German postal service began constructing a transmitter chain for a second television network. This new network was to be broadcast on the UHF spectrum which required new reception equipment. For older receivers, a converter was sold for about 80 DM (about $20 in 1961 dollars^[3] ($164 today)). As with the earlier ARD television network, the location of the transmitters was carefully planned to ensure the entire country would be able to receive the programming. To test the transmitters and encourage the public to purchase UHF receivers, the federal government allowed the ARD network to create a temporary secondary channel, ARD 2, which was broadcast daily from 8 to 10 p.m. ARD 2 began broadcasting on 1 May 1961 in the transmission area of Hessischer Rundfunk and a month later expanded nationwide.

Interstate agreement

Under the government of Konrad Adenauer, and to combat these differences between the two broadcasters, ZDF was formed in 1962 with the intention of competing with the ARD. The SPD-led states of Hamburg, Bremen, Lower Saxony, and Hesse appealed to the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany, which on 28 February 1961 in the First Broadcasting Judgment blocked the plan, declaring that all broadcasting powers belonged to the states. In March 1961, the states decided to establish, independently of existing institutions, a central nonprofit public television network. On 6 June 1961, the state premiers signed at a premiers' conference in Stuttgart the interstate agreement on the "establishment of the public institution Second German Television". On 1 December 1961, though not all states had ratified the agreement, it went into force in the states that had done so (Baden-Württemberg, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate). The last state, Bavaria, filed the instrument of ratification on 9 July 1962.

Finances

ZDF is financed by a license fee of €17.50 per month, which must be paid by all households in Germany, except handicapped people and persons on social aid. ZDF shares the income with ARD and Deutschlandradio. The fees are not collected directly by ZDF, but by the Beitragsservice, a common organization of the ARD member broadcasters, ZDF, and Deutschlandradio. ZDF also has income from sponsorships and programming and advertising sales.

Historic Logos

Transmission and reception

Terrestrial

As ZDF is a channel, not a network, the channel is broadcast throughout Germany, with no regional variations or affiliates, using a number of signal repeaters. ZDF transmitters broadcast a digital signal. Analog signals were gradually phased out, a process which lasted from 2002 to 2008.^[4] ZDF does not run any transmitters itself. Throughout the analogue days, all ZDF transmitters were run by the Deutsche Bundespost which was later privatised as Deutsche Telekom's subsidiary T-Systems Media Broadcast. (This is in contrast to the other public German broadcaster, ARD, which owns its main transmitters.) ZDF was not previously allowed to use ARD's transmitters. ZDF has used both ARD and Telekom transmitters since changes to the law in the 1990s, and since the digital switchover.

Cable

ZDF has also been relayed by cable since the days of the first cable pilot projects.

Satellite

The first Europe-wide satellite broadcast via Astra 1C began in August 1993 during the Internationale Funkausstellung Berlin (IFA – "International Broadcasting Exhibition") in Berlin. In the same decade, these new technologies were used to enable digital broadcasting of ZDF. Today, ZDF is available free-to-air throughout Europe on Astra 19.2°E and Hot Bird (13°E).

Other ZDF channels

ZDF operates two digital channels: ZDFneo (aimed at 18-45 year olds) and ZDFinfo (documentaries). Both are transmitted in SD and HD. A commercial subsidiary called ZDF Enterprises GmbH manages programme sales, acquisitions, international coproductions, and a growing number of important activities in new media. ZDF also operates various channels in cooperation with other networks:KI.KA, Arte, 3sat, and Phoenix

Design

Det and Conni, two of six Mainzelmännchen

ZDF's animated station-identity mascots, the Mainzelmännchen (a play on the words "Mainz" and "Heinzelmännchen"), created by Wolf Gerlach for the channel's launch in 1963, quickly became popular and are still shown between commercials.^[5]
In 1976, Otl Aicher, a graphic designer, created ZDF's corporate design. A new design for ZDF was created by Lee Hunt in February 2000.

Administration

Director General

Thomas Bellut

Administratively, ZDF is headed by a director general (Intendant), who is elected by the ZDF Television Council, the composition of which is in turn determined by "societally relevant groups" named in the ZDF Treaty.

Directors General since the start of ZDF:

• 1963–1977: Karl Holzamer
  


• 1977–1982: Karl-Günther von Hase
  


• 1982–2002: Dieter Stolte


• 2002–2012: Markus Schächter


• 2012–present: Thomas Bellut
  

Supervising board

The supervising board supervises the work of the intendant. They pay special attention to the budget. The supervising board has 14 members:

• Five representatives of the federal states


• One representative of the federal republic of Germany


• Eight independent members (not allowed to work for the government or other public entities)

Television Board

The Television Board supervises ZDF and authorizes the budget. They also elect the Director General. The board has 60 members:

• Sixteen representatives of the states of Germany


• Two representatives of the federal republic of Germany


• Two representatives of the Protestant churches


• Two representatives of the Catholic Church


• One representative of the Central Council of Jews in Germany


• 21 representatives of selected civil society groups


• 16 members nominated by the federal states, representing different social causes

Membership

ZDF became a full member of the European Broadcasting Union in 1963. It also has numerous individual cooperation agreements with broadcasters around the world. ZDF is a supporter of the Hybrid Broadcast Broadband TV initiative which promotes the establishment of an open European standard for hybrid set-top boxes for the reception of broadcast TV and broadband multimedia applications with a single user interface.

Programming^[6]

Children

Culture

Documentation

Entertainment

Information

Series

Sport

Talk

Audience share

Germany

	January	February	March	April	May	June	July	August	September	October	November	December	Annual average
1990[7]	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	28.8%
1991[8]	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	25.6%
1992[9]	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	22.0%
1993[10]	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	18.0%
1994[11]	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	17.0%
1995[12]	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	14.7%
1996[13]	14.7%	15.2%	13.6%	13.1%	13.6%	17.4%	15.8%	13.7%	13.1%	13.3%	14.8%	14.2%	14.4%
1997[14]	14.6%	14.6%	13.4%	12.4%	12.8%	12.9%	12.7%	13.2%	13.3%	12.4%	13.7%	14.4%	13.4%
1998[15]	13.9%	15.3%	13.0%	12.3%	12.5%	17.4%	14.2%	12.8%	12.1%	13.1%	13.1%	13.3%	13.6%
1999[16]	14.2%	14.3%	14.0%	12.4%	12.1%	12.6%	13.2%	12.6%	12.0%	13.0%	13.4%	13.8%	13.2%
2000[17]	14.2%	13.8%	13.4%	11.6%	12.3%	15.3%	13.7%	13.3%	13.0%	12.7%	12.8%	13.2%	13.3%
2001[18]	13.2%	13.3%	13.1%	11.3%	11.7%	12.2%	14.2%	13.7%	12.5%	13.5%	13.8%	13.8%	13.0%
2002[19]	14.4%	15.5%	13.4%	12.4%	12.7%	16.4%	13.9%	14.1%	12.3%	13.1%	13.2%	13.9%	13.8%
2003[20]	13.9%	13.6%	13.7%	12.5%	12.3%	12.5%	13.9%	13.5%	12.3%	13.0%	13.2%	13.7%	13.2%
2004[21]	14.1%	13.9%	12.9%	12.5%	12.5%	14.8%	15.1%	15.9%	12.8%	12.7%	12.9%	13.9%	13.6%
2005[22]	14.0%	14.2%	13.7%	13.4%	12.7%	13.7%	14.0%	13.2%	13.3%	12.9%	13.2%	13.6%	13.5%
2006[23]	13.2%	14.4%	13.6%	13.1%	12.3%	16.9%	15.7%	12.4%	12.4%	12.5%	13.3%	13.5%	13.6%
2007[24]	14.2%	13.5%	13.0%	12.0%	12.1%	12.5%	12.6%	12.3%	12.5%	12.8%	13.2%	13.4%	12.9%
2008[25]	13.5%	12.9%	13.4%	12.2%	11.6%	17.6%	12.1%	13.6%	12.3%	12.7%	12.8%	12.9%	13.1%
2009[26]	14.3%	13.2%	12.7%	12.0%	11.7%	12.5%	11.9%	12.6%	12.3%	12.2%	11.7%	12.6%	12.5%
2010[27]	13.1%	13.8%	12.5%	11.3%	11.9%	16.7%	13.7%	11.9%	11.4%	12.4%	11.7%	12.3%	12.7%
2011[28]	12.9%	13.0%	13.0%	11.7%	11.3%	12.0%	12.9%	10.7%	11.4%	11.7%	11.9%	12.5%	12.1%
2012[29]	12.6%	12.7%	12.5%	11.1%	12.1%	15.5%	12.8%	13.0%	11.3%	12.5%	12.0%	12.7%	12.6%
2013[30]	13.6%	13.5%	13.1%	12.9%	12.9%	12.0%	12.2%	12.5%	12.8%	12.7%	12.7%	12.5%	12.8%
2014[31]	13.4%	15.1%	12.3%	12.7%	12.0%	17.6%	14.8%	11.6%	12.5%	12.3%	12.3%	12.7%	13.3%
2015[32]	14.2%	12.9%	12.8%	12.2%	12.1%	12.7%	12.3%	12.1%	12.1%	12.0%	12.1%	12.3%	12.5%
2016[33]	13.2%	12.6%	12.9%	12.6%	12.0%	17.1%	13.3%	14.3%	11.9%	11.9%	12.4%	12.5%	13.0%
2017[34]	13.9%	13.3%	13.0%	12.5%	12.6%	13.2%	13.0%	13.1%	12.9%	12.4%	13.5%	13.1%	13.0%
2018[35]	14.1%	14.6%	13.9%	13.4%	13.1%	16.9%	15.5%

The average age of the viewers is 62 years (as of 2016).^[36]

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to ZDF.

• 
  Official website (in German)
  


• 
  Official website (in English)
  


• 
  ZDF on IMDbPro (subscription required)
  

Coordinates: 49°57′52″N 8°12′29″E / 49.96444°N 8.20806°E / 49.96444; 8.20806