National Co-ordinator:

Peter Sauer
Studio Franken
Wallensteinstrasse 17
D - 90431 Nürnberg
Fax.: 0911 - 6550/373
Tel.: 0911 - 6550/341
e-mail: Peter.Sauer@brnet.de

Survey

Nearly 50 years ago - exactly on the 10th. June 1950 - the television in Germany was founded as an association of the existing radio stations in the Federal Republic of Germany West-Germany. This first television system in Germany was organised under the roof of ARD, an abreviation for "Arbeitsgemeinschaft der oeffentlich-rechtlichen Rundfunkanstalten der Bundesrepublik Deutschland". In English: "Association of Public Broadcasting Corporations in the Federal Republic of Germany". At the early beginning this organisation produced the programme of the first television channel in Germany general called "Erstes Deutsches Fernsehen"
(First TV-cannel of Germany).

Ten years later a second national TV-channel was founded in Germany. Its name: " ZDF", an abbreviation for "Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen" (Second German TV).

Because ZDF produces only one national wide screened programme this organisation can't be a member of an organisation of regional stations of the kind of Circom Regional. In Germany the regional stations are represented by the "ARD", an organisation which produced a national wide screened first channel and besides of this regional programmes within the borders of the different 16 German regions. These regional TV-stations are generally called "Drittes Fernsehprogramm" (Third TV-programme). These third regional channels - under the roof of the juridical organisation of the ARD - are the members of Circom Regional.

Today the ARD consists of the following independent broadcasting corporations:
Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR)
Hessischer Rundfunk (HR)
Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk (MDR)
Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR)
Ostdeutscher Rundfunk Brandenburg (ORB)
Radio Bremen (RB)
Saarlaendischer Rundfunk (SR)
Sender Freies Berlin (SFB)
Sudwestrundfunk (SWR)
Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR)
Deutsche Welle (DW)

Organisation

Experience with media abuse in the years prior to 1945 motivated the decision to make public broadcasting corporations in West Germany independent of government and interest group influence. The constitution (1949) gave the rights to administer radio and television to each of the existing federal states. The states in West Germany, either individually or in groups, founded public-law institutions for the purpose of producing and broadcasting radio and television.

All broadcasting corporations have the same mission, i.e. to serve the public as a whole with programmes providing information, education and entertainment. This model was applied to the new eastern states in 1991.

Adherence to the public programming mandate is monitored in the public broadcasting corporations by broadcasting councils. They consist of the representatives of the major organised groups in society. The public broadcasting system is financed by licence fees in 1999: 28,35 DM family/month. The public broadcasting organisations also take in some revenue from advertising.

Programme

The individual broadcasting corporations under state law contribute to the cooperative programme of ARD, Erstes Deutsches Fernsehen. Programming is co-ordinated by a standing committee whose chairman is the programme director of "Deutsches Fernsehen". He is assisted by co-ordinators for all various programming areas. ARD broadcasts 18 hours of television daily on its main transmitter chains.

Erstes Deutsches Fernsehen (1st TV-channel of Germany)

"Erstes Programm" (First Programme) offers a wide variety of television for all viewers. The range extends from regular news and sports broadcasts to entertainment shows, various series, political magazine programmes, cultural broadcasts, television plays, feature films, family programmes, religious and musical broadcasts. On work days, ARD und ZDF broadcast a morning news programme and at 1.p.m. a "Mittagsmagazin".
During the early evening, on work days, the individual outlets of the First German Television carry their own broadcasts. These includes regional information, entertainment and commercials.

Third TV - Programmes

Information and entertainment with a regional accent. To provide a regional contrast to the national programming of Erstes Deutsches Fernsehen, the regional broadcasting corporations produce Third Programmes on television. These programmes - Bayerisches Fernsehen, Hessen 3, MDR-Fernsehen, N3 (from NDR and RB), ORB-Fernsehen, B1 (from SFB), Südwest 3 (from SR, SDR, SWF) and West 3 - total between 9 and 19 1/2 hours a day. A significant element in some of these programmes is the fact that they have their own news broadcasts. Regional information and entertainment programmes are broadcast along with educational programmes and music, cultural and science programmes and documentaries, feature films, series, game shows and talk shows.

CONTACTS
Bayerischer Rundfunk Nürnberg Peter Sauer Studio Franken Wallensteinstrasse 17 D - 90431 Nürnberg Fax.: 0911 - 6550/373 Tel.: 0911 - 6550/341 Peter.Sauer@brnet.de	Hessischer Rundfunk Frankfurt / Main Manfred Krupp-Schmidbauer Fernsehen Chefredaktion Bertramstrasse 8 D - 60320 Frankfurt / Main Fax.: 069 - 155 - 3465 Tel.: 069 - 155/2300 mkschmidbaur@hr-online.de
Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk Erfurt Benedict Otto Landesfunkhaus Thüringen Gothaer Strasse 36 D - 99094 Erfurt Fax.: 0361 - 218 172 - 1305 Tel.: 0361 - 218/1300 thueringen-journal@mdr.de	Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk Dresden Thomas Reiche Königsbrücker Strasse 88 D - 01099 Dresden Thomas.Reiche@mdr.de
Norddeutscher Rundfunk Hamburg Manfred Schröter Landesfunkhaus Hamburg Gazellenkamp 57 D - 22504 Hamburg Fax.: 040 - 4156 - 5473 Tel.: 040 - 4156/5300 m.schroeter@ndr.de	Norddeutscher Rundfunk Hannover Marlis Fertmann Landesfunkhaus Niedersachen Rudolf-von-Bennigsen-Ufer 22 D - 30169 Hannover Fax.: 0511 - 988 - 2409 Tel.: 0511 - 988/2400 m.fertmann@ndr.de
Norddeutscher Rundfunk Kiel Peter Dresewski Landesfunkhaus Schleswig-Hoölstein Eggerstedstrasse 16 D - 24103 Kiel Fax: 0431 - 9876 - 447 Tel.: 0431 - 9876/340 p.dreseweski@ndr.de	Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg Potsdam Dr. Brigitte Wauer Standort Potsdam Marlene-Dietrich-Allee 20 14482 Potsdam Fax.: +49 331 97993 12719 Tel.:+49 331 97933 12700 Brigitte-wauer@rbb-online.de
Radio Bremen Andreas Neumann Radio Bremen TV Postfach 28323 Bremen Germany	Saarländischer Rundfunk Saarbrücken Gaby Riedschy Funkhaus Hallberg D - 66100 Saarbrücken Fax: 0681 - 602 - 2619 Tel.: 0681 - 602/2622 griedschy@sr.de
Sender Freies Berlin Marita Held Masurenallee 8 - 14 D - 14057 Berlin Fax.: 030 - 3031 - 3493 Tel.: 030 - 3031/3480 marita.held@sfb.deb	Südwestrundfunk Baden-Baden Manfred Hattendorf Hans-Bredow-Strasse 11 D - 76522 Baden-Baden Fax.: 07221 - 929 - 2021 Tel.: 07221 - 929/2573 manfred.hattendorf@swr.de
Südwestrundfunk Freiburg Michael Hertle Studio Freiburg/Breisgau Kartäuser Strasse 45 D - 79192 Freiburg/Breisgau Fax.: 0761 - 3808 - 416 Tel.: 0761 - 3808/404 michael.hertle@swr.de	Südwestrundfunk Mainz Christoph-Michael Adam Landesfunkhaus Rheinland-Pfalz Wallstrasse 39 D - 55122 Mainz Fax.: 06131 - 929 - 3032 Tel.: 06131 - 929 - 3289 chistoph-michael.adam@swr.de
Südwestrundfunk Stuttgart Dr. Ralph Martin Landesdirektion Baden-Württemberg Neckarstrasse 230 D - 70190 Stuttgart Fax.: 0711 - 929 - 4048 Tel.: 0711 - 929/2403 ralph.martin@swr.de	Südwestrundfunk Stuttgart Brigitte Dimter HA Land und Leute / FS Neckarstrasse 230 D- 70190 Stuttgart Fax.: 0711 - 929 - 3696 Tel.: 0711 - 929 - 3420 Brigitte.Dimter@swr.de
Westdeutscher Rundfunk Köln Rolf Bringmann Appellhofplatz 1 D - 50667 Köln Fax: 0221 - 220 - 3318 Tel.: 0221 - 220/3228 rolf.bringmann@wdr.de