Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (; "Berlin-Brandenburg Broadcasting"; abbreviated: RBB , stylized as rbb) is an institution under public law (national broadcaster) for the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

states of

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...

and

Brandenburg Brandenburg (; nds, Brannenborg; dsb, Bramborska ) is a state in the northeast of Germany bordering the states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony, as well as the country of Poland. With an area of 29,480 squ ...

, based in Berlin and

Potsdam Potsdam () is the capital and, with around 183,000 inhabitants, largest city of the German state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of ...

. RBB was established on 1 May 2003 through the merger of

Sender Freies Berlin Sender Freies Berlin (; abbreviated SFB ; ) was the ARD public radio and television service for West Berlin from 1 June 1954 until 1990 and for Berlin as a whole from German reunification until 30 April 2003. On 1 May 2003 it merged with Ostdeu ...

(SFB) and

Ostdeutscher Rundfunk Brandenburg Ostdeutscher Rundfunk Brandenburg (ORB; ''East German Broadcasting Brandenburg''), based in Potsdam, was the public broadcaster for the German federal state of Brandenburg from 12 October 1991 until 30 April 2003. It was a member organization of ...

(ORB), based in Potsdam, and is a member of the Association of PSBs in the Federal Republic of Germany ( ARD). Aside from its two main studios in Berlin and Potsdam, RBB also has regional studios in

Cottbus Cottbus (; Lower Sorbian: ''Chóśebuz'' ; Polish: Chociebuż) is a university city and the second-largest city in Brandenburg, Germany. Situated around southeast of Berlin, on the River Spree, Cottbus is also a major railway junction with exte ...

and

Frankfurt (Oder) Frankfurt (Oder), also known as Frankfurt an der Oder (), is a city in the German state of Brandenburg. It has around 57,000 inhabitants, is one of the easternmost cities in Germany, the fourth-largest city in Brandenburg, and the largest German ...

, and regional offices in

Perleberg Perleberg (; North Margravian: ''Perlberg'') is the capital of the district of Prignitz, located in the northwest of the German state of Brandenburg. The town received city rights in 1239 and today has about 12,000 inhabitants. Located in a mostly ...

and

Prenzlau Prenzlau (, formerly also Prenzlow) is a town in Brandenburg, Germany, the administrative seat of Uckermark District. It is also the centre of the historic Uckermark region. Geography The town is located on the Ucker river, about north of Be ...

. RBB also operates ARD's studio in

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officiall ...

; the responsibility changes every five years between RBB and WDR (Westdeutscher Rundfunk). RBB also plays out ARD's digital channels from a center in Potsdam. RBB and WDR are jointly responsible for ARD's television studio in Berlin.

History

RBB was founded on 25 June 2002 on the basis of a treaty between

and

. As a result, RBB is required to treat both states equally "with respect to the regional content needs". In 2022 there were complains about nepotism of rbb-director Patricia Schlesinger. The public prosecutor started an investigation and Schlesinger stepped back from the office as ARD-director and rbb-director.

Organization and finances

RBB Directors-general

The first director-general of the RBB was Dagmar Reim, from 1 May 2003 to 30 June 2016, at an annual salary of €220,000. Her successor Patricia Schlesinger has been in office since 1 July 2016 and the annual salary has risen to €257,000.

Finances

Every household in Germany is legally required to pay a €17.50 licence fee per month -the "Rundfunkbeitrag" (broadcast contribution) to finance the public broadcast system. The fee is collected by '' Beitragsservice von ARD, ZDF und Deutschlandradio''. RBB's revenues from the licence fee amounted to * €376.535 million in 2013 * €430.722 million in 2014 * €413.004 million in 2015 * €401.915 million in 2016

Number of employees

In 2016 RBB had an average number of 1,938 permanent employees.

Channels

Television

* RBB Fernsehen –

and

's regional public-broadcasting TV channel (successor to SFB 1 and ORB TV channels). Between 19.30 and 20.00, the channel transmits separate regional news programmes for Berlin ("Abendschau") and Brandenburg ("Brandenburg Aktuell") *

Das Erste Das Erste (; "The First") is the flagship national television channel of the ARD association of public broadcasting corporations in Germany. ''Das Erste'' is jointly operated by the nine regional public broadcasting corporations that are member ...

– Germany's main television network, of which RBB – as a member of ARD – contributes 7% of programming hours * Phoenix – ARD and ZDF's joint news, events and current-affairs channel *

KI.KA KiKA (contraction of ''Der KinderKAnal von ARD und ZDF'' ARD and ZDF">ARD_(broadcaster).html" ;"title="he Children's Channel of ARD (broadcaster)">ARD and ZDF]) is a German free-to-air television channel based in Erfurt, Germany. It is man ...

– ARD and ZDF's joint children's channel *

arte Arte (; (), sometimes stylized in lowercase or uppercase in its logo) is a European public service channel dedicated to culture. It is made up of three separate companies: the Strasbourg-based European Economic Interest Grouping ARTE, plu ...

– European cultural channel *

3sat In logic and computer science, the Boolean satisfiability problem (sometimes called propositional satisfiability problem and abbreviated SATISFIABILITY, SAT or B-SAT) is the problem of determining if there exists an interpretation that satisfies ...

– cultural channel from ARD, ZDF, ORF (Austrian Broadcasting), and SRG (Swiss Broadcasting)

Radio

* rbb 88.8 – radio station for Berlin from Berlin *

Antenne Brandenburg Antenne Brandenburg is a German, public radio station owned and operated by the Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (; "Berlin-Brandenburg Broadcasting"; abbreviated: RBB , stylized as rbb) is an institution under public ...

– public station for

from

with regional information from the studios in

and

* – radio station for people aged 25 and above * Fritz – station aimed at 14- to 24-year-olds * rbbKultur – cultural channel from

* rbb24 Inforadio – news channel from

* Sorbischer Rundfunk – a joint channel with MDR in the Sorbian language * COSMO – station from WDR for Germans and foreigners, produced in cooperation with Radio Bremen and RBB, (replaced RBB's own station, Radio Multikulti, on 31 December 2008)

Notable productions

RBB produces episodes of the crime series

Tatort ''Tatort'' ("Crime scene") is a German language police procedural television series that has been running continuously since 1970 with some 30 feature-length episodes per year, which makes it the longest-running German TV drama. Developed b ...

and

Polizeiruf 110 ''Polizeiruf 110'' ("Police call 110") is a long-running German-language detective television series likened to Poirot. The name links to the emergency telephone number of the ''Volkspolizei''. The first episode was broadcast 27 June 1971 in the ...

for ARD. It also produces Kontraste, a political show and the satirical show Satiregipfel (formerly "

Scheibenwischer (German for ''windshield wipers'') was the name of a long-running German Kabarett show. It was founded in 1980 by Dieter Hildebrandt and produced by BR / RBB to be broadcast on Das Erste. The show ended in 2008 after 28 years on the air. Conc ...

") for ARD. From 2003 to 2005, RBB broadcast the

Kurt Krömer Kurt Krömer (stage name for ''Alexander Bojcan'') (born 20 November 1974) is a German television presenter, comedian and actor. Life Krömer was born in Berlin. He works as actor and comedian in German television and film. From 2003 to 200 ...

Show, which attracted attention nationwide. RBB has produced the show's successor -''Bei Krömers'' – for ARD since 2005. The regional news show '' Abendschau'' has a high profile in the capital region. Since 1958, initially with a slot in ARD including nationwide transmission of the

visit of John F. Kennedy, and later distributed under SFB-frequency, Abendschau reports on politics, economy, sports in Berlin and as well as news from the various districts and boroughs of the city. RBB produces " Ohrenbär", aimed at an audience of four and eight-year-olds.

Logo history

File:RBB Logo alt.svg, 2003–2004 File:RBB Dachmarke Logo bis 2017.svg, 2004–2017 File:Rbb Logo 2017.08.svg, Current logo since 28 August 2017

References

External links

rbb Homepage
(in German) {{Authority control ARD (broadcaster) Mass media companies of Germany Television networks in Germany Television stations in Germany Radio stations in Germany Organisations based in Berlin Brandenburg German-language television networks 2003 establishments in Germany Mass media in Berlin Mass media in Potsdam