Free television society

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The Free Television Society ( FFG , actually Free Television GmbH ) was the first nationally planned private television company in the Federal Republic of Germany. It was supposed to start broadcasting on January 1, 1961, but this was prohibited for legal reasons; the FFG was then liquidated. Due to the problem of being close to the state , the company and its immediate successors were often referred to as " Adenauer-Fernsehen ".

prehistory

Adenauer and the press

Konrad Adenauer had already recognized the importance of radio as Lord Mayor of Cologne, whereupon he observed him particularly as Federal Chancellor. He was particularly bothered by the fact that the British Labor government had installed many Social Democrats in the leadership of the DPD news agency - one of the forerunners of the DPA - and the NWDR . At the NWDR, the general director Adolf Grimme sat on the board of the SPD; his personal advisor, the program director and the head of the political department were close to the SPD or were members, while the CDU saw only two senior employees in the music department. The program was not politically oriented, but the two NWDR board members Emil Dovifat and Otto Heinrich von der Gablentz , CDU members from the very beginning , desperate to remind the Federal Chancellor and government as well as party friends that blanket allegations do not benefit the matter .

Konrad Adenauer Junior tells the anecdote in the Rhöndorf Talks that his father expected on his 80th birthday on January 5, 1956, to receive a newspaper from the industry that would be available to him personally and to the CDU.

With the start of the ARD community television program in November 1954, Adenauer left individual programs continuously, including entertainment such as Was bin ich? examine for political tendencies.

Adenauer believed that the impressive CDU victory in the federal election in 1957 was won against and not with the press, but the CDU-affiliated press turned out to be bigger than originally assumed. With a large majority of votes in the Bundestag, Adenauer considered it possible to pass a second program that was subject to the federal government.

Legal position

The Parliamentary Council had the countries the cultural sovereignty awarded. Adenauer said that he campaigned for it at the time because a CDU victory at the federal level was not considered certain, but in some countries it was. In this way, at least in the CDU-ruled countries, schools could be designed according to your own ideas. Relating cultural sovereignty to broadcasting was not the intention of this legislation. So the attempt was made with the following argumentation: The Deutsche Bundespost and thus the federal government were responsible for the radio stations, and consequently it could also rule on the television companies. A legal dispute before the Federal Constitutional Court is to be accepted.

Early Considerations for a Private Broadcasting Company

  • As early as 1952 there were considerations of the economy to set up a private radio program to broadcast advertising - at that time still on medium and long wave. The federal government wanted to give airtime for information programs.
  • Some newspaper publishers were even thinking of a TV station in southern Germany in 1949, but due to the high costs they left it at that.
  • In 1953 the radio industry interest group was supposed to lay the foundation stone for its own establishment, but it was not founded after all.
  • In 1955 there was no joint study commission between the press and the BDI .

Beginnings

Advertisers and newspaper publishers

1956 joined the study commission for radio and television advertising e. V. Publishers, advertisers and industry together. The industry appeared in the form of the BDI and the Markenverband e. V. , the top organization of around 400 manufacturers of well-known branded goods. One hoped for more sales through advertising in the beginning economic miracle and otherwise pursued no other goal. TV advertising was only just emerging in Germany, with Bayerischer Rundfunk being the first to start doing it on November 3, 1956, but only to a limited extent, on weekdays in the evening program - a restriction that still applies to public broadcasters today.

The newspaper and magazine publishers in the association were divided into two groups: The big publishers had a long-term interest and, above all, wanted local television. The smaller publishers feared they would lose advertisers in the future and were only forced to take part.

Second ARD program

The public stations had the end of 1956, two experimental stations for the new UHF , broadcast frequencies in operation and planned with a second transmitter chain a second program. In doing so, they set a realistic three-year planning time so that broadcasting should not start before 1960. The first task of the study commission was to absolutely prevent the Deutsche Bundespost from assigning frequencies to others and therefore to apply for a frequency assignment in good time. Investigations by the Bundespost later showed that a third television program was possible, but this was not yet certain at the time.

Assessment

The study commission first had expert opinions drawn up before venturing to found a television company. The report by Gerhard Eckert was of central importance . Eckert received his doctorate in 1936 at the Institute for Newspaper Studies, and in 1941 he completed his habilitation on the subject of "Broadcasting as a means of leadership". He then worked for the soldier broadcaster Belgrade . After the war he could no longer gain a foothold, the universities turned him away and all that was left for him was to write as a freelance writer for Hörzu , Spiegel and other magazines.

The Eckert report assumed 500 DM for one minute of programming, which was higher than 300 DM for the public broadcasters, as the less secure employment resulted in higher salaries. With 33 hours of programming per week, operating costs amounted to DM 51.5 million. This should be compared to 3 h 18 min advertising, which should bring about 70% of the rates of the Bavarian radio with full occupancy with 4,000 to 16,000 DM. So in the fourth year a positive balance would be possible. Eckert mentions neither the - not inconsiderable - line costs to the Bundespost nor any start-up costs.

In addition, there were even more optimistic reports, although in retrospect it can be assumed that the FFG would have failed because of the program costs after the costing of these reports.

Preparations

Based on the expert opinion, it was decided to found a television company and in 1957 an application for frequency allocation was submitted to the Deutsche Bundespost. On July 30, 1958, the Federal Cabinet commissioned the Minister of Post with the technical preparations for setting up a second transmission chain, and on January 14, 1959, it approved these plans. Regarding the assumption of costs, it was stated that "... should be procured for the account of the person to whom the program design will be assigned according to the upcoming program regulation."

On December 5, 1958, the Freie Fernsehen GmbH (FFG) was founded, with Adenauer and the BDI appointing the members of the supervisory board. At Adenauer's request, Mainz university professor Karl Holzamer was to take over the management of the broadcaster, but the supervisory board did not agree.

In December 1959, the cabinet commissioned the FFG to produce a television program within a year, for which the federal government - kept secret from the public - initially provided DM 20 million in financial security. In order to keep the federal states from taking legal action, Germany-Fernsehen GmbH was quickly invented as the holder of the broadcasting license .

On August 3, 1960, a 171,900 m² site in Eschborn was bought for DM 650,000 to set up the studio there (see Second German Television ).

Programming

staff

It was also possible to retain well-known employees for the station, including Helmut Schreiber as head of entertainment, Elmar Gunsch as speaker and editor of the morning program, Karl Senne for the editorial team of the sports magazine and Joachim Kaiser from the Süddeutsche Zeitung . Gerhard Löwenthal wanted to be a European correspondent in Brussels. It turned out to be much more difficult to win over screenwriters, Heinrich Böll and Martin Walser showed no interest, a manuscript by Wolfgang Hildesheimer was rejected.

Of outstanding importance was Peter von Zahn , who felt underpaid with his current job with 6,000  USD per film and could thus be won over to an extensive collaboration. Since his contract with the NWRV ran until March 31, 1961, he was not to be seen in the picture until then, after that at least once per film. In order to be able to conclude a contract at all, von Zahn founded Documentary Programs Inc. in Washington, DC , from which the Windrose film production emerged. Nevertheless, he had to pay 200,000 DM for his breach of contract, but was later able to return to ARD with his Windrose films. The Windrose film production was a privately organized international reporting network. This was to receive 7.2 million DM for 1 hour of film per week for 1961, consisting of two 30-minute series: Diplomatic Pass was created in cooperation with the Foreign Office , The Windrose reporters report as a continuation of the images from the New World . The cost-effective production only worked with perfect organization, in which recordings from one location were used for various films.

Heinz Haber was ready to switch from the NWRV to the FFG for 6,500 DM instead of 5,000 DM per program and to design seven 45-minute science programs, but this did not materialize.

Program scheme

There was to be a 25-minute breakfast television broadcast three times in a row from 6 a.m. to 7:30 a.m., interrupted by breaking news. With the argument "... we will only be able to afford long programs in three or four years ...", a 30-minute grid was also provided for the evening program, whereby all own productions were recorded magnetically and 16 mm films were produced by external companies . There should be evening news from 7:30 p.m. to 7:57 p.m. and then again from 10 p.m. to 10:12 p.m., its title: Weltschau .

Contracts with CBS (Zurich agency) and NBC International (London) each produced two 27-minute series, and a cooperation agreement was signed with CBS, and shortly afterwards even a consultancy agreement for program design and production.

German television service GmbH

In order not to take over the news broadcasts, the German television service GmbH was founded , in which the FFG held a 51% stake, the Deutsche Wochenschau and the International Television Agency GmbH (IFAG) in Wiesbaden with 12% each, Tellux-Film and the Evangelical Church with 10% each and the publisher Marx as a representative of the Jews with 5%. The federal government held a 51% stake in IFAG. There was no longer an entry in the commercial register .

Television sales and advertising community mbH

In order to be able to adhere to the strict separation of program and advertising demanded by CDU circles and the churches, advertising was transferred to a subsidiary, of which the FFG held 99% of the shares. The advertisers should not be able to influence the program. This company could no longer be registered either.

Programs created in advance

The planned start of broadcasting on January 1, 1961 (which was not brought about by the preliminary injunction of the Federal Constitutional Court) turned out to be so tight that in retrospect it seems questionable whether they would have lasted longer than four weeks. It was not possible to practice in advance in the Eschborn studio, as it could only be completed in early 1961. There were about 40 hours of topical and documentary coverage, some film rights, and rehearsed live shows. In many cases, the program advisory board disappointed the poor quality. On the other hand, the frequent addition “You can find more details from the daily press” in the Weltschau , to which the newspaper publishers urged , produced a special hilarity . Production continued until the spring, but there were still useful productions worth mentioning.

liquidation

Please Adenauer

The ban on Deutschland-Fernsehen GmbH by the 1st broadcasting judgment of the Federal Constitutional Court fell in an election year, which is why Adenauer was particularly interested in the lowest possible losses. From his vacation spot, which was completely unusual for him, he asked the state minister-presidents to use the FFG's pre-produced material for the new station.

Tangible assets

A commission of five prime ministers decided on June 16, 1961 to acquire the technical equipment of the FFG in favor of and for the account of the newly established "Second German Television" . For this purpose, the state parliament in Mainz decided on July 11, 1961 a loan from the state of Rhineland-Palatinate in the amount of DM 20 million. Since the negotiations were initially interrupted because of the federal election and then dragged on, the Prime Minister Peter Altmeier first signed on December 4, 1961 a purchase agreement for DM 16.278 million.

An outside broadcast van already purchased in the USA for DM 1 million was sold to Sender Freie Berlin (now RBB ) for DM 809,000 . It enabled live images of the construction of the wall , which otherwise would not have been possible due to a lack of capacity.

Programming assets

The balance sheet of March 31, 1961 valued the programming assets at DM 49.563 million, whereby this value could be valued differently depending on the use and also fell with increasing time. WDR has shown the 37 films of Windrose that have already been made with great success, and individual pieces have been sold to rental companies. The ZDF finally took over 330 hours of the 400 hours of program stock for 10 million DM. A commission appointed by the Prime Minister evaluated the material in order to avoid the impression of political influence and a consequent negative evaluation of the new station. These were purchased and synchronized series and self-produced titles such as Alarm in the Mountains , Game About Jewelry , Three Good Friends , My Wife Susanne or People, Animals, Sensations .

Final balance

The liquidation resulted in debts of DM 35 million, for which the federal government had to pay.

literature

  • Rüdiger Steinmetz: Free television - the first private commercial television program in Germany. UVK-Medien, 1996 ISBN 3-89669-152-X

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Wolfgang Brenner: Adenauer's “Free Television” - The Federal Chancellor was fed up with it , FAZ.net of March 26, 2013; accessed on December 7, 2018
  2. ^ Norbert F. Pötzl: Adenauer-Fernsehen: The Black Channel , one day via Spiegel Online from December 5, 2018; accessed on December 7, 2018
  3. ↑ Karl Günther von Hase, Rhöndorfer Talks of the Federal Chancellor Adenauer House Foundation , Konrad Adenauer und die Presse , Volume 9, Bouvier 1988, p. 67
  4. ↑ a b c Wolfgang Brenner The Federal Chancellor was fed up with it in FAZ of March 26, 2013, p. 31