science

Television in Germany

Television in Germany is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Television in Germany rather than just read about it. In short: Television in Germany began in Berlin on 22 March 1935, broadcasting for 90 minutes three times a week. It was home to the first regular television service in the world, named Fernsehsender Paul Nipkow.

Key takeaways

Television in Germany belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Television in Germany to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Television in Germany from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Television in Germany began in Berlin on 22 March 1935, broadcasting for 90 minutes three times a week. It was home to the first regular television service in the world, named Fernsehsender Paul Nipkow. In 2000, the German television market had approximately 36.5 million television households, making it the largest television market in Europe. Nowadays, 95% of German households have at least one television receiver. All the public-service German television channels are free-to-air.

History

In 1948 the British occupation forces allowed NWDR to broadcast television programmes for the British zone. Other regional networks also started to launch television in their own areas. Meanwhile, the GDR was launching its own television service, Deutscher Fernsehfunk (DFF), based on the Soviet model. A regular schedule began through the cooperation of all ARD members in 1954. Basic principles in the central areas of entertainment, information and enlightenment were established and television plays developed as the medium's own specific art form. Improvements in technology and programming, as well as reduced prices, led to a steady increase in licence holders, and the number of licenses passed the 1-million mark in October 1957. On 1 April 1963, the long-promised second television network, the Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (Second German Television) started. Unlike ARD, which was regionalized and had its roots in radio, ZDF was a centrally organized channel devoted solely to television. On 25 August 1967, at 9:30 a.m. on both ARD and ZDF, vice chancellor Willy Brandt started the era of colour television in West Germany by pressing a symbolic launch button at the International Radio and Television Fair in West Berlin. East Germany started DFF2 in 1969, and introduced colour programming on both channels. In 1972, the DFF was renamed, dropping the pretense of being an all-Germany service and becoming Fernsehen der DDR (GDR Television) or DDR-FS. Its two channels became known as DDR1 and DDR2. The first two privately financed television networks, RTL plus (short for Radio Television Luxemburg) and SAT 1, started their programming in West Germany in 1984. (Previously RTL broadcast from Luxembourg but was only received in parts of Southwestern Germany). After reunification, the television stations of the German Democratic Republic were dissolved and the remnants were used to found new regional networks, e.g. the Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk (Central German Broadcasting), as part of the ARD. In addition, more private television stations opened, becoming available through cable, satellite and in some cases, over the airwaves.

Market Today, with almost 40 million television households, 365 television channels licensed in Germany and a total market volume of €9,615 million in 2008, Germany represents one of the biggest and most diversified television markets in the world. The strongest revenue segment in Germany is public funding (€4,430 million in 2008), followed by advertising (€4,035 million) and subscription (1,150 € million). This dominant market position of public and advertisement funded free television channels in Germany explains why the German pay television segment is significantly underperforming in an international comparison. In terms of total television viewing market share, Germany's market leaders in 2024 were again the two biggest public-service channels (ZDF with 15.3% and Das Erste with 13.0%) and the two leading commercial channels (RTL with 8.1% and Sat.1 with 4.5%). The leading pay TV provider was Sky Deutschland (see below). The biggest teleshopping providers in Germany are QVC and HSE24. With 18.1 million television households satellite is the dominant television infrastructure in Germany, followed by cable (17.9 million television households) and terrestrial (3.8 million television households). In a 2010 survey half of German television viewers said they often found nothing to watch on television. The Germanophone sphere is the largest market for dubbing in Europe. Foreign television shows and other formats are often dubbed into German, while subtitled formats with the original language are also becoming more popular.

Channels

The channels with the largest viewing share in 2024 are:

The combined share of ARD's so called Third Programmes (regional broadcasters WDR, NDR, SWR, etc.) was 13.6% in 2024

Subscription channels

Germany's sole subscription channel Premiere had its heyday around the millennium. Premiere offered telecasts of the German football league – the Bundesliga, but they lost the broadcasting rights in 2006 to a newly formed competitor – Arena. Premiere was the brainchild of the former television czar, Leo Kirch. He went into insolvency after a decade of losing viewers from his subscription channel, DF1 (Digital television 1). The company regained some ground with its new manager Georg Kofler. In 2005, several German cable companies created a new challenger to Premiere - ARENA. The participating companies are iesy (Hesse) and ish (TV) (North Rhine-Westphalia) through their combined partnership called "Unity Media". Arena, a rather small company, wanted to buy the pay-television rights to the German Bundesliga and won by a decision of the marketing directorate of the DFL. The rights to broadcast the Bundesliga is regarded as lucrative in the German television market, so previous rights holders Premiere suffered a wounding blow to their business model. Arena held the rights from 2006 to 2008. Further negotiations were due in 2008 for the broadcasting of the Bundesliga.

Public broadcasters

As stated above, the ARD was the first German broadcasting station. It has a federally orientated structure. At present, nine regional public broadcasters cooperate to produce programs for the television network known as Das Erste (The First):

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Television in Germany

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Television in Germany claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Television in Germany before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Television in Germany ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Television in Germany

In research: Television in Germany appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Television in Germany in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Television in Germany is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Television by country, Television in Germany, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Television in Germany outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Television in Germany in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Television in Germany means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Television in Germany out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Television in Germany in simple terms?

Why does Television in Germany matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Television in Germany?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Television in Germany.