Das Erste

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German public-service television channel

title: "Das Erste" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["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"] description: "German public-service television channel" topic_path: "geography/germany" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Das_Erste" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary German public-service television channel ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox television channel"]

FieldValue
nameDas Erste
logoDas Erste 2014.svg
logo_size250px
logo_captionLogo used since 2014
launch_date
picture_format1080p HDTV
(downscaled to 720p for digital satellite and cable)
ownerARD
countryGermany
languageGerman
headquartersMunich, Germany
former_namesNWDR-Fernsehen (1952–1954)
Deutsches Fernsehen (1954–1984)
Erstes Deutsches Fernsehen (1984–1996)
sister_channelsOne
Tagesschau24
ARD-alpha
website
terr_serv_1Digital terrestrial television
terr_chan_1Channel slots vary on each city
online_serv_1DasErste.de
online_chan_1Watch live (Germany only)
online_serv_2Ziggo GO (Netherlands)
online_chan_2ZiggoGO.tv (Europe only)
online_serv_3Horizon
online_chan_3Horizon.tv (Switzerland only)
online_serv_4Canaldigitaal Live App
online_chan_4Live
::

| name = Das Erste | logo = Das Erste 2014.svg | logo_size = 250px | logo_caption = Logo used since 2014 | image = | launch_date = | closed_date = | picture_format = 1080p HDTV (downscaled to 720p for digital satellite and cable) | network = | owner = ARD | country = Germany | language = German | area = | headquarters = Munich, Germany | former_names = NWDR-Fernsehen (1952–1954) Deutsches Fernsehen (1954–1984) Erstes Deutsches Fernsehen (1984–1996) | replaced = | replaced_by = | sister_channels = One Tagesschau24 ARD-alpha | timeshift_service = | website = | terr_serv_1 = Digital terrestrial television | terr_chan_1 = Channel slots vary on each city | online_serv_1 = DasErste.de | online_chan_1 = Watch live (Germany only) | online_serv_2 = Ziggo GO (Netherlands) | online_chan_2 = ZiggoGO.tv (Europe only) | online_serv_3 = Horizon | online_chan_3 = Horizon.tv (Switzerland only) | online_serv_4 = Canaldigitaal Live App | online_chan_4 = Live

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

The channel was launched on 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, ARD.

History

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2b/Virtuelles_Studio,_Tagesschau.jpg" caption="Tagesschau]]''"] ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1e/Erfurt_Maus_und_Elefant1.jpg" caption="''Die Maus'']], a popular animated children's series"] ::

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's only television channel before the establishment of ZDF 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 produced by Cranston/Csuri Productions in Columbus, Ohio. 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 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 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Das Erste HD is available via satellite (DVB-S2 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 in 1080p50, encoded using H.265 HEVC.

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:

::data[format=table]

Broadcasting organisation% of total
Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR)16.25
Hessischer Rundfunk (HR)7.45
Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk (MDR)10.60
Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR)17.50
Radio Bremen (RB)0.75
Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (RBB)7.10
Saarländischer Rundfunk (SR)1.25
Südwestrundfunk (SWR)18.10
Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR)21.00
::

Broadcasting

Before 1990, Das Erste was only distributed in West Germany, and was almost exclusively broadcast using transmitters owned by the Deutsche Bundespost. 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, where the channel recorded audiences much larger than the Deutscher Fernsehfunk (the former public broadcaster).Exceptions for the signal included Dresden, located in a deep valley in southeastern East Germany, and the area around Rügen island. Indeed, Das Erste's broadcasts, particularly the newscasts, were far more popular in East Germany than those of state broadcaster Deutscher Fernsehfunk. One popular nickname for ARD in East Germany was Außer Rügen und Dresden (except Rügen and Dresden).

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7e/Ard-reichweite-ddr.png" caption="black areas having no reception]] (often jokingly referred to as ''Außer (except) [[Rügen]] und [[Dresden]]''), and broadcasting transmitters near the [[inner German border"] ::

On 15 December 1990,following the reunification, programming from ARD was distributed by Deutsche Post of the GDR 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 in 1995, and then in turn to T-Systems in 2000.

Between 2002 and 2008 the transmission facilities in Germany were successively converted from the analogue terrestrial PAL standard to the new digital terrestrial DVB-T television standard.

Das Erste is available throughout Europe on free-to-air digital satellite television via Astra, as well as on many cable providers. Transmission via the Hot Bird satellite was stopped on 1 April 2017.

Logo history

ARD 1970 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

Entertainment

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 (ARD Aktuell, NDR) (1978–present)
  • ** (SFB/RBB/MDR) (1969–present)
  • Weltspiegel (multiple) (1963–present)

Series

Sport

Talk

Former programmes

Audience share

Germany

::data[format=table]

JanuaryFebruaryMarchAprilMayJuneJulyAugustSeptemberOctoberNovemberDecemberAnnual average
title=KEK/Zuschaueranteile (in Prozent) von 1990 bis 2011website=kek-online.deaccess-date=30 June 2017url-status=deadarchive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151208080954/http://www.kek-online.de/fileadmin/Download_KEK/Zuschaueranteile/Jaehrliche%20Zuschaueranteile%20seit%201990.pdfarchive-date=8 December 2015}}'''-------
1991------------
1992------------
1993------------
1994------------
1995------------
199614.8%15.2%14.4%14.1%13.6%18.2%15.8%14.5%14.5%14.3%13.9%14.2%
199714.3%15.2%13.3%15.0%13.7%14.9%15.0%16.0%15.6%14.3%14.6%14.6%
199814.8%15.8%14.8%14.2%15.1%19.9%18.1%15.2%14.8%14.3%14.1%14.0%
199914.8%15.3%14.8%14.1%13.7%14.8%14.5%13.9%13.7%13.1%13.4%14.3%
200014.4%14.4%14.1%13.5%14.3%15.7%15.1%14.1%15.9%13.3%13.7%13.5%
200112.9%14.3%13.3%12.7%13.2%14.1%14.7%13.8%14.8%13.4%13.7%14.2%
200213.6%15.9%13.7%13.8%13.6%17.1%13.9%14.9%13.8%13.4%13.5%13.5%
200314.0%14.9%14.2%13.6%13.2%14.0%14.8%14.1%14.6%13.3%13.7%13.6%
200413.1%13.8%13.7%13.7%13.8%17.4%13.3%16.0%12.6%13.1%13.8%13.4%
200513.2%14.3%13.4%13.8%12.3%13.8%13.5%13.8%13.3%12.9%13.2%14.0%
200613.9%15.4%13.7%13.3%13.6%18.4%14.2%14.1%13.7%13.5%13.5%13.7%
200713.8%14.3%13.9%13.1%13.0%12.9%12.2%13.9%13.4%13.3%13.4%13.1%
200813.6%13.8%12.5%12.5%12.9%18.0%12.6%15.1%12.7%12.4%12.6%12.7%
200912.5%13.3%13.1%12.7%12.5%12.5%12.0%13.1%12.6%12.7%12.8%12.5%
201013.4%14.0%12.8%12.8%12.9%17.1%14.0%12.2%12.5%11.9%12.2%12.7%
201112.5%12.9%13.2%12.6%12.8%13.1%12.1%12.3%11.8%11.8%11.6%11.9%
201212.9%11.8%12.2%11.2%11.2%15.9%11.4%13.5%11.5%11.7%11.7%12.2%
201312.2%12.4%12.5%12.1%11.7%12.3%11.7%12.0%12.0%11.7%11.7%12.3%
201411.7%13.4%12.3%11.4%12.0%17.4%15.0%11.3%11.3%11.1%11.8%11.5%
201511.3%11.8%11.6%12.2%11.8%12.1%10.9%11.2%10.9%11.2%11.9%11.9%
201612.2%11.6%11.3%11.5%12.1%16.0%13.1%14.0%11.0%10.7%11.2%11.2%
201710.6%11.8%12.0%11.8%11.4%10.7%10.7%11.0%11.2%10.9%11.3%11.8%
2018
::

The average age of viewers was 61 in 2016.

References

References

  1. "About us. ARD".
  2. (17 September 2002). "ARD-Pressemitteilung: 50 Jahre Erstes Deutsches Fernsehen - Symposium und Sondersendungen zum ARD-Jubiläum".
  3. "Jahresrückblick 1952: Neues Rundfunkhaus in Lokstedt". [[tagesschau (Germany).
  4. "60 Jahre ARD - Ein "Dinosaurier" und seine Zukunft". [[Norddeutscher Rundfunk]].
  5. "HDTV im Ersten". daserste.de.
  6. "Chronik der ARD". [[ARD (broadcaster).
  7. "KEK/Zuschaueranteile 1996".
  8. "KEK/Zuschaueranteile 1997".
  9. "KEK/Zuschaueranteile 1998".
  10. "KEK/Zuschaueranteile 1999".
  11. "KEK/Zuschaueranteile 2000".
  12. "KEK/Zuschaueranteile 2001".
  13. "KEK/Zuschaueranteile 2002".
  14. "KEK/Zuschaueranteile 2003".
  15. "KEK/Zuschaueranteile 2004".
  16. "KEK/Zuschaueranteile 2005".
  17. "KEK/Zuschaueranteile 2006".
  18. "KEK/Zuschaueranteile 2007".
  19. "KEK/Zuschaueranteile 2008".
  20. "KEK/Zuschaueranteile 2009".
  21. "KEK/Zuschaueranteile 2010".
  22. "KEK/Zuschaueranteile 2011".
  23. "KEK/Zuschaueranteile 2012".
  24. "KEK/Zuschaueranteile 2013".
  25. "KEK/Zuschaueranteile 2014".
  26. "KEK/Zuschaueranteile 2015".
  27. "KEK/Zuschaueranteile 2016".
  28. "KEK/Zuschaueranteile 2017".
  29. (14 March 2017). "Langzeit-Entwicklung des TV-Markts: Wie die Sender gealtert sind - und wer sich dagegen stemmt".

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1952-establishments-in-west-germanyard-(broadcaster)companies-based-in-munichgerman-language-television-stationsmass-media-in-munichtelevision-channels-and-stations-established-in-1952television-stations-in-germany