Germany profile - Media
21 March 2017
Germany's competitive television market is the largest in Europe,
with some 34 million TV households.
The many regional and national public broadcasters - organised in line with
the federal political structure - vie for audiences with powerful commercial
operators. Each of the 16 regions regulates its own private and public
broadcasting.
Around 90% of German households have cable or satellite TV, and viewers
enjoy a comprehensive mix of free-to-view public and commercial
channels. This has acted as a brake on the development of pay-TV.
Germany is home to some of the world's largest media conglomerates,
including Bertelsmann and the publisher Axel Springer. Some of Germany's
top free-to-air commercial TV networks are owned by ProSiebenSat1.
Germany has completed the switch to digital terrestrial TV broadcasting.
Public broadcasters ZDF and ARD offer a range of digital-only channels.
While the press and broadcasters are free and independent, the
display of swastikas and statements endorsing Nazism are illegal.
There are several national newspapers, but the press market is
strongest at a regional level, with more than 300 titles. The Bild tabloid is
the best-selling daily.
By 2014, 71.7 million people were online, InternetLiveStats.com reported.
The leading social
network is Facebook, with more than 25 million users. Its rivals include
meinVZ.
The press
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung - prestigious daily
Sueddeutsche Zeitung - Munich-based daily
Die Welt - Berlin-based daily
Frankfurter Rundschau - Frankfurt am Main-based daily
Handelsblatt - Duesseldorf-based financial daily
Focus - weekly news magazine
Der Spiegel - news weekly, English-language site
Die Zeit - weekly
Bild - mass-circulation daily
The Local - Berlin-based, English-language
Television
ARD - organisation of regional public broadcasters; operates Das Erste, the
main national public TV channel
ZDF - operates second national
public TV channel n-tv - commercial,
rolling-news N24 - commercial,
rolling news
RTL - major commercial broadcaster, operates
TV, in German, English, Spanish, Arabic Sky - pay-TV
operator
Radio
ARD - umbrella organisation of public radio services, including those of
individual regions
Deutschlandradio - operates national public stations
Deutschlandfunk and Deutschlandradio Kultur, both offering
current affairs and cultural programmes
Deutsche Welle - international radio,, services in many languages