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Das Erste (; "The First") is the flagship national television channel of the ARD association of
public broadcasting Public broadcasting (or public service broadcasting) is radio, television, and other electronic media outlets whose primary mission is public service with a commitment to avoiding political and commercial influence. Public broadcasters receive f ...
corporations in Germany. ''Das Erste'' is jointly operated by the nine regional public broadcasting corporations that are members of the ARD. The channel was officially launched on Christmas Day, 25 December 1952 as ''NWDR-Fernsehen'' and renamed to ''Deutsches Fernsehen'' in 1954. Since 1996, the official brand is ''Das Erste''; the full name Erstes Deutsches Fernsehen (''First German Television'') is still used before every major news edition. In colloquial speech, the station is usually called ''Erstes Programm'' ("First Channel"), or by its
metonym Metonymy () is a figure of speech in which a concept is referred to by the name of something associated with that thing or concept. For example, the word "wikt:suit, suit" may refer to a person from groups commonly wearing business attire, such ...
, ''ARD''.


History

The channel's first experimental broadcast was on 27 November 1950 as the TV channel of the then NWDR, which in 1956 split into NDR and WDR. The regular NWDR television service started on 25 December 1952. Nationwide transmission began on 1 November 1954 within the ARD framework, under the name ''Deutsches Fernsehen'' ("German Television"). It was
West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...
's only television channel before the establishment of
ZDF ZDF (), short for (; ), is a German public-service television broadcaster based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. Launched on 1 April 1963, it is run as an independent nonprofit institution, and was founded by all federal states of Germany ( ...
in 1963. The new channel consisted of jointly-produced shows such as the nightly news programme '' Tagesschau'' (on the air since 26 December 1952), as well as broadcasts produced individually by ARD member stations. The programs were coordinated by the ''Programmdirektion'' based in Munich. Besides several entertaining shows, ARD went political in 1957 when it launched its first political TV magazine, Panorama. Germany's first political TV show adopted the slogan "What is being talked about and what should be talked about" and pictured all aspects of postwar West German society—including conflict-laden topics, scandals, and other taboo topics, such as former Nazis who had held important roles. ARD nevertheless produced a provisional second TV channel () from 1 June 1961 until ZDF started its transmissions on 1 April 1963. Colour television was introduced on 25 August 1967. Since 1 September 1995, Das Erste has broadcast 24 hours a day. The channel's name was changed to ''Erstes Deutsches Fernsehen'' ("First German Television") on 1 October 1984. At the same time, a new corporate design was introduced, designed by Hans Bacher, along with new CGI
idents Station identification (ident, network ID, channel ID or bumper (broadcasting), bumper) is the practice of radio and television stations and broadcast network, networks identifying themselves on-air, typically by means of a call sign or brand na ...
produced by
Cranston/Csuri Productions Cranston/Csuri Productions (CCP) was an American computer animation company based in Columbus, Ohio. It was founded in 1981 by artist Chuck Csuri and investor Robert Cranston Kanuth to commercially exploit computer animation technology created by ...
in Columbus,
Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...
. The previous logo, with stylized waves, was replaced by a new logo showing a stylized number "1" which is still in use today. It changed its name to ''Das Erste'' on 1 January 1997, but the long name ''Erstes Deutsches Fernsehen'' is still used for some purposes (e.g. the introduction to the main editions of the ''Tagesschau''). Informally, it is also known under the metonym ''ARD'' among viewers. In addition to its SD broadcast, a
720p50 720p (720 lines progressive) is a progressive HD signal format with 720 horizontal lines/1280 columns and an aspect ratio (AR) of 16:9, normally known as widescreen HD (1.78:1). All major HD broadcasting standards (such as SMPTE 292M) include ...
HD version of the channel, ''Das Erste HD'', is also broadcast. Broadcast of ''Das Erste HD'' began in February 2010 with the coverage of the
2010 Winter Olympics The 2010 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XXI Olympic Winter Games () and also known as Vancouver 2010 (), were an international winter multi-sport event held from February 12 to 28, 2010 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with ...
in
Vancouver, British Columbia Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...
,
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
. ''Das Erste HD'' is available via satellite (
DVB-S2 Digital Video Broadcasting - Satellite - Second Generation (DVB-S2) is a digital television broadcast standard that has been designed as a successor for the popular DVB-S system. It was developed in 2003 by the Digital Video Broadcasting Proj ...
on Astra 19.2°E), cable (all cable providers in Germany and some providers throughout Europe), IPTV (MagentaTV), encoded using H.264 AVC, and on
digital terrestrial television Digital terrestrial television (DTTV, DTT, or DTTB) is a technology for terrestrial television, in which television stations broadcast television content in a digital signal, digital format. Digital terrestrial television is a major technologica ...
in 1080p50, encoded using H.265
HEVC High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC), also known as H.265 and MPEG-H Part 2, is a video compression standard designed as part of the MPEG-H project as a successor to the widely used Advanced Video Coding (AVC, H.264, or MPEG-4 Part 10). In co ...
.


Member broadcasting organizations

All nine of Germany's regional public-broadcasting organizations contribute to the output of Das Erste and broadcast its programming in a common schedule.


Time assigned

Each regional member of ARD contributes programming to the channel's schedule in proportion to the population of the area it serves. , the time allocations as percentage shares of total broadcast hours were:


Broadcasting

Before 1990, Das Erste was only distributed in
West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...
, and was almost exclusively broadcast using transmitters owned by the
Deutsche Bundespost The (, ) was a German state-run postal service and telecommunications business founded in 1947. It was initially the second largest federal employer during its time. After staff reductions in the 1980s, the staff was reduced to roughly 543,20 ...
. However, the transmitters were powerful enough that Das Erste had a gigantic reach and could be accessed freely in neighboring countries and also in
East Germany East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...
, where the channel recorded audiences much larger than the
Deutscher Fernsehfunk Deutscher Fernsehfunk (DFF; German for "German Television Broadcasting") was the state television broadcaster in the German Democratic Republic (GDR or East Germany) from 1952 to 1991. DFF produced free-to-air terrestrial television programmin ...
(the former public broadcaster).Exceptions for the signal included
Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...
, located in a deep valley in southeastern East Germany, and the area around
Rügen Rügen (; Rani: ''Rȯjana'', ''Rāna''; , ) is Germany's largest island. It is located off the Pomeranian coast in the Baltic Sea and belongs to the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The "gateway" to Rügen island is the Hanseatic ci ...
island. Indeed, Das Erste's broadcasts, particularly the newscasts, were far more popular in East Germany than those of state broadcaster
Deutscher Fernsehfunk Deutscher Fernsehfunk (DFF; German for "German Television Broadcasting") was the state television broadcaster in the German Democratic Republic (GDR or East Germany) from 1952 to 1991. DFF produced free-to-air terrestrial television programmin ...
. One popular nickname for ARD in East Germany was ''Außer Rügen und Dresden'' (except Rügen and Dresden). On 15 December 1990,following the
reunification A political union is a type of political entity which is composed of, or created from, smaller politics or the process which achieves this. These smaller polities are usually called federated states and federal territories in a federal govern ...
, programming from ARD was distributed by
Deutsche Post of the GDR The Deutsche Post (, , abbr. DP ), also Deutsche Post of the GDR (, ) was the state-owned postal and telecommunications monopoly of the German Democratic Republic (GDR - East Germany). The DP was placed under the control of the Ministry of Post ...
for the first time. The GDR-transmitters were later taken over by the Bundespost and merged organizationally with the West German transmitters. The transmitters of the Bundespost were transferred to
Deutsche Telekom Deutsche Telekom AG (, ; often just Telekom, DTAG or DT; stylised as ·T·) is a partially state-owned German telecommunications company headquartered in Bonn and the largest telecommunications provider in Europe by revenue. It was formed in 199 ...
in 1995, and then in turn to
T-Systems T-Systems International GmbH, trading as T-Systems, is an internationally operating service provider for information technologies and digital transformation. The company is part of Deutsche Telekom and is headquartered in Frankfurt am Main. As ...
in 2000. Between 2002 and 2008 the transmission facilities in Germany were successively converted from the analogue terrestrial
PAL Phase Alternating Line (PAL) is a color encoding system for analog television. It was one of three major analogue colour television standards, the others being NTSC and SECAM. In most countries it was broadcast at 625 lines, 50 fields (25 ...
standard to the new digital terrestrial
DVB-T DVB-T, short for Digital Video Broadcasting – Terrestrial, is the DVB European-based consortium standard for the broadcast transmission of digital terrestrial television that was first published in 1997 and first broadcast in Singapore in Fe ...
television standard. Das Erste is available throughout Europe on
free-to-air Free-to-air (FTA) services are television (TV) and radio services broadcast in unencrypted form, allowing any person with the appropriate receiving equipment to receive the signal and view or listen to the content without requiring a subscri ...
digital
satellite television Satellite television is a service that delivers television programming to viewers by relaying it from a communications satellite orbiting the Earth directly to the viewer's location.ITU Radio Regulations, Section IV. Radio Stations and Systems ...
via Astra, as well as on many
cable Cable may refer to: Mechanical * Nautical cable, an assembly of three or more ropes woven against the weave of the ropes, rendering it virtually waterproof * Wire rope, a type of rope that consists of several strands of metal wire laid into a hel ...
providers. Transmission via the Hot Bird satellite was stopped on 1 April 2017.


Logo history

Altes-ARD Logo.svg, 1970–1984 ARD logo 1984.svg, 1984–1996 DasErste-Logo.svg, 1996–2003 Das Erste-Logo.svg, 2003–2015 1-ARD-Dachmarke.svg, 2003–2015 Das Erste 2014.svg, 2015–present ARD Dachmarke 2014.svg, 2015–present Das Erste HD Corner-Logo 2015.png, 2015 Das Erste HD Logo 2015.svg, 2015–2025


Programmes


Children

*''Frag doch mal die Maus'' (WDR), hosted by Eckart von Hirschhausen (2006–present) *'' Janoschs Traumstunde'', children's programme (1986—1998) *''
Sesamstraße (, Sesame Street in English) is a German children's television series that airs primarily in Germany and the surrounding German-speaking countries. It is a spin-off of the first preschool programme ''Sesame Street''. The show has been running o ...
'' (NDR), children's programme *''
Die Sendung mit der Maus ' (''The Show with the Mouse''), often ' (''The Mouse''), is a German children's series, children's television series, popular nationwide and across all ages for its educational content.Bernhard Borgeest"Von Mäusen und Machern"''Focus (German ma ...
'' (WDR), children's programme


Entertainment

*'' Alfons und Gäste'' (SWR/SR) (2008–present) *''Die große Show der Naturwunder'' (SWR) (2006–present) *''
extra 3 ''extra 3'' is a weekly political satire show on Television in Germany, German television established in 1976. Produced by public TV broadcaster Norddeutscher Rundfunk, it is aired on NDR Fernsehen and 3sat. Once a month, the show is promoted t ...
'' (NDR), political satire *''Gefragt - Gejagt'', German version of '' The Chase'' (2015–present) *''
Immer wieder Sonntags ''Immer wieder Sonntags'' (''Again on Sundays'') is a German television entertainment show which is broadcast live every Sunday in the summer months from Europa Park in Rust, Baden-Württemberg, Rust, Southwest Germany. The series was first aired ...
'' (SWR) (1995–present) *'' Inas Nacht'' (NDR) (2009–present) *''
Musikantenstadl Musikantenstadl is a live television entertainment program broadcast in the German language throughout Austria, Germany, and Switzerland. It features Austrian, Swiss, and German popular folk music (Schlager, Volkstümliche Musik), international p ...
'' (co-production with ORF and SRF) (1983–2015) *' (NDR), hosted by
Jörg Pilawa Jörg Michael Pilawa (born 7 September 1965, in Hamburg) is a German television presenter. Life Pilawa studied after his school at Gymnasium Hummelsbüttel first medicine and then history, but he did not finish his university studies. From 198 ...
(2014–present) *' (WDR) (2016–present) *''Spiel für dein Land - Das größte Quiz Europas'' (co-production with ORF and SRF), hosted by
Jörg Pilawa Jörg Michael Pilawa (born 7 September 1965, in Hamburg) is a German television presenter. Life Pilawa studied after his school at Gymnasium Hummelsbüttel first medicine and then history, but he did not finish his university studies. From 198 ...
(2015–present) *' (SDR/SWR), hosted by Guido Cantz (1980–2021)


Information

*''ARD-Morgenmagazin'' (WDR) (1992–present) *''ARD-Mittagsmagazin'' (RBB) (1989–present) *''Berliner Runde'' (SFB/RBB) (1999–present) *''Bonner Runde'' (WDR) (1972–1999) *''Brennpunkt'' (multiple) (1971–present) *''Brisant'' (MDR) (1994–present) *''Fakt'' (MDR) (1992–present) *''Kontraste'' (SFB/RBB) (1968–present) *''Monitor'' (WDR) (1965–present) *' (ARD Aktuell, NDR) (1995–present) *''Panorama'' (NDR) (1957–present) *''Plusminus'' (multiple) (1975–present) *'' Presseclub'' (WDR) (1987–present) *''Presseschau'' (SFB) (1969–2002) *''Report'' ''(Report Mainz/Report München)'' (SWF/SWR/BR) (1960–present) *'' Tagesschau'' (ARD Aktuell, NWDR/NDR) (1952–present) *''
Tagesthemen ''Tagesthemen'' () is one of Germany's main daily television news magazines, presented by journalists Helge Fuhst, Aline Abboud, Ingo Zamperoni and . Second only to the 20:00 '' Tagesschau'' ("Review of the Day") ''Tagesthemen'' ("Issues of the ...
'' (ARD Aktuell, NDR) (1978–present) *' (SFB/RBB/MDR) (1969–present) *''Weltspiegel'' (multiple) (1963–present)


Series

*'' Babylon Berlin'' (2018–present) *''
Blankenese Blankenese () is a suburban quarter in the borough of Altona in the western part of Hamburg, Germany; until 1938 it was an independent municipality in Holstein. It is located on the right bank of the Elbe river. With a population of 13,637 as of ...
'' (1994, 2001–2002, 2005) *''Charité'' (2017) *'' Die Stein'' (2008, 2011) *'' Earth 2'' (2008) *''
Falcon Crest ''Falcon Crest'' is an American prime time television soap opera created by Earl Hamner Jr. that aired for nine seasons on CBS from December 4, 1981, to May 17, 1990. The series revolves around the feuding factions of the wealthy Gioberti/Cha ...
'' (1983–1991) *''Frau Temme sucht das Glück'' (2017) *'' Ghosts (German TV series)'' (2025) *'' Großstadtrevier'' (1986–present) *'' Heiter bis tödlich'' (multiple), light police comedy *''
In aller Freundschaft (''In all friendship'') is a German television soap opera that began airing in 1998 every Tuesday. The series follows the staff of the fictional Sachsenklinik hospital in the city of Leipzig. The series is produced by Degeto (a subsidiary of ...
'' (MDR), weekly soap (1998–present) *' (MDR), weekly soap (2015–present) *'' Kir Royal'' (1986–1990) *''
Lindenstraße ''Lindenstraße'' (literally "Linden Street") was a long-running German television Drama (film and television), drama series, broadcast by Das Erste. The first episode aired on 8 December 1985 and since then new episodes were broadcast weekly u ...
'' (WDR), weekly soap (1985–2020) *''
Magnum, P.I. ''Magnum, P.I.'' is an American crime drama television series starring Tom Selleck as Thomas Magnum, a private investigator (P.I.) living on Oahu, Hawaii. The series ran from December 11, 1980, to May 1, 1988, during its first-run broadcast on ...
'' ''(Magnum)'' (1984–1994) *''
Miami Vice ''Miami Vice'' is an American crime drama television series created by Anthony Yerkovich and produced by Michael Mann for NBC. The series stars Don Johnson as James "Sonny" Crockett and Philip Michael Thomas as Ricardo Tubbs, Ricardo "Rico" Tub ...
'' (1986–1994) *'' Mord in bester Gesellschaft'' crime series (2007–present) *''
Murder, She Wrote ''Murder, She Wrote'' is an American crime drama television series, created by Peter S. Fischer, Richard Levinson and William Link, starring Angela Lansbury, and produced and distributed by Universal Television for the CBS network. The series f ...
'' ''(Mord ist ihr Hobby)'' (1988) *''
Polizeiruf 110 ''Polizeiruf 110'' ("Police call 110") is a long-running German-language detective television series. The name refers to the emergency telephone number of the ''Volkspolizei''. The first episode was broadcast 27 June 1971 in the German Democratic ...
'' (multiple), crime drama *''Rentnercops'' (2015–present) *'' Rote Rosen'' (Degeto Film), daily soap (2006–present) *'' Sturm der Liebe'' (BR), daily soap (2005–present) *''
Tatort ("Crime Scene") is a German-language police procedural television series that has been running continuously since 1970 with 30 feature-length episodes per year, making it the longest-running German TV drama. Developed by the German public-se ...
'' (all regional stations) *'' Türkisch für Anfänger'' (2006–2009) *''
Um Himmels Willen ''Um Himmels Willen'' (English: ''For Heaven's Sake'') is a German television sitcom created by Jana Brandt and Sven Döbler, which originally aired on Das Erste since 8 January 2002. The 13th season was aired from 4 March 2014 to 3 June 2014 a ...
'' (2002–present) *'' Vorstadtweiber'' (2015–2016) *'' Weissensee'' (2010, 2013, 2015)


Sport

*''
Sportschau ''Sportschau'' is a German sports magazine on broadcaster ARD, produced by WDR in Cologne. The magazine started in 1961. In its Saturday edition, the ''Sportschau'' shows a summary of the Bundesliga, whereas the Sunday edition reports on the l ...
'' (on Saturdays with
Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...
, WDR) (1961–present) *'' Sportschau vor acht'' (WDR) (2013–present) *'' Sportschau-Club'' (WDR) (2012–present) *
FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...
(1954-present) *
UEFA European Championship The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro or Euros, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). The competition ...
(1960-present)


Talk

*'' Anne Will'' (NDR), hosted by Anne Will (2007–present) *''Beckmann'' (NDR), hosted by Reinhold Beckmann (1999–2014) *''Der internationale Frühschoppen'' (1953–1987) *''Günther Jauch'' (NDR), hosted by
Günther Jauch Günther Johannes Jauch (; born 13 July 1956) is a German television presenter, television producer, and journalist, best known as the longtime host of ''Wer wird Millionär?'', the German version of ''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?'' Career ...
(2011–2015) *''
Hart aber fair ''hart aber fair'' (English: "hard but fair") is a German weekly political talk show. In the 75-minute broadcast on Monday evening on Das Erste, presenter Frank Plasberg discussed a controversial topic with his guests. Spectators receive addit ...
'' (WDR), hosted by
Frank Plasberg Frank Plasberg (born 18 May 1957) is a German journalist and television presenter. Biography Born in Remscheid, Plasberg has an education in theatre, politics and pedagogy and works as television presenter on German broadcaster WDR. From 198 ...
(2007–present) *''Maischberger'' (RBB/WDR), hosted by
Sandra Maischberger Sandra Maischberger (; born 25 August 1966) is a German journalist, talk show host, and author. Early life and education Born in Munich, Maischberger spent five years of her childhood in Frascati, near Rome, Italy, and also grew up in Garch ...
(2003–present) *'' Sabine Christiansen'' (NDR), hosted by Sabine Christiansen (1998–2007)


Former programmes

*''
Beat-Club ''Beat-Club'' was a West German music programme that ran from September 1965 to December 1972. It was broadcast from Bremen, West Germany on ''Erstes Deutsches Fernsehen'', the national public TV channel of the ARD, and produced by one of its m ...
'' *'' Berlin, Berlin'' (SFB/RBB) *''
Echo Music Prize Echo Music Prize (stylised as ECHO, ) was an accolade by the , an association of recording companies of Germany to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry. The first ECHO Awards ceremony was held in 1992, and was set up to honor ...
'' (1998–2000, 2009–2016) *''
Ein Herz und eine Seele ''Ein Herz und eine Seele'' (literally "One Heart and One Soul" i.e. "hand in glove") is a German television sitcom based on the British sitcom '' Till Death Us Do Part'' by Johnny Speight. The show premiered on 15 January 1973 and lasted for 2 ...
'' (NDR) *''
Die Kommissarin ''Die Kommissarin'' (''Lady Cop'') is a German police TV series which aired on Das Erste. Its 66 episodes ran from 1994 till 2006. The series, which takes place in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, is notable as being the first, and as one of the most ...
'' (1994–2006) *''
Graf Yoster ''Graf Yoster gibt sich die Ehre'' (French title: ''Le comte Yoster a bien l'honneur'') – which translates to English as ''Count Yoster has the Honour'' – was a television series produced between 1967 and 1976. Starring Lukas Ammann and Wolf ...
'' (1967–1976) *''
Harald Schmidt Harald Franz Schmidt (born 18 August 1957) is a German actor, comedian, television presenter and writer best known as the host of two popular German late-night shows. Early and private life A son of refugees who fled from Sudetenland (now Cz ...
'' (WDR) *'' Marienhof'' (WDR), daily soap (1992–2009) *''
Musikladen ''Der Musikladen'' () was a West German music television programme that ran from 13 December 1972 to 29 November 1984. The show continued the 1960s ''Beat-Club'' under a new name, and in turn was replaced by ''Extratour''. History Around 90 ep ...
'' *'' Polylux'' (ORB/RBB) (2000–2008) *'' Raumpatrouille'' *'' Verbotene Liebe'' (WDR), daily soap (1995–2015) *' (
ARD-aktuell ARD-aktuell has been the central television newsroom of the ARD (broadcaster), ARD since 1977. ARD-aktuell is a joint institution of the ARD (broadcaster), ARD. It is located at Norddeutscher Rundfunk, NDR (Norddeutscher Rundfunk) in Hamburg ...
, NWDR/NDR) (1953–2014) *' (HR), (1965–2013)


Audience share


Germany

The average age of the viewers is 61 years ().


References


External links

*
DasErste Mediathek (VoD Portal)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Erste 1952 establishments in West Germany ARD (broadcaster) Companies based in Munich German-language television stations Mass media in Munich Television channels and stations established in 1952 Television stations in Germany