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Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen

Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen
logo since 2001
Launched 1 April 1963; 53 years ago (1963-04-01)
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.zdf.de
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. 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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