ZDF
| Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Launched | 1 April 1963 |
| Owned by | the States of Germany |
| Picture format |
16:9 576i (SDTV) 720p50 (HDTV 1080p50 (HDTV) |
| Audience share | 12.5% (2015, dwdl.de) |
| Slogan | Mit dem Zweiten sieht man besser. With the Second one sees better. (wordplay) |
| Country | Germany |
| Broadcast area | National; also distributed in: Austria Luxembourg Switzerland Liechtenstein Slovenia Belgium Italy Netherlands Denmark Kosovo |
| Headquarters | Mainz, Germany |
| Replaced | ARD 2 (1961–1963) |
| Sister channel(s) |
ZDFneo ZDFinfo |
| Website | www |
|
Availability
|
|
| Terrestrial | |
| DVB-T | Channel 2 |
| 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 |
| Hot Bird (Europe, Middle East & North Africa) | 11.054 GHz Horizontal SR: 27500 FEC: 5/6 SID: 8011 Video PID: 570 Audio PID: 571 |
| Cable | |
| Kabel Deutschland | Yes (SD and HD) |
| Cablecom (Switzerland) | Yes (SD and HD) SD – Channel 006 (digital CH-D) |
| Naxoo (Switzerland) | Channel 154 |
| Ziggo (Netherlands) | Channel 55 (SD/HD) |
| YouSee (Denmark) | Channel 52 |
| Streaming media | |
| ZDF.de | Watch live (Germany only) |
| FilmOn | Watch live |
| Horizon Go |
Horizon.tv (Netherlands only) Horizon.tv (Germany only) Horizon.tv (Switzerland only) |
Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (German pronunciation: [ˌtsvaɪ̯təs ˌdɔʏ̯tʃəs ˈfɛɐ̯nzeːən]; English: Second German Television), usually shortened to ZDF, stylized as 2DF since 2001, 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.
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.Thomas Bellut, ZDF's director general, was elected by the ZDF Television Council in 2011.
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 ($160 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.
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