Third television program

The title of this article is ambiguous. Third television program (disambiguation)

The nine regional broadcasters of the ARD

As the third television programs (colloquially the third ) one describes the regional full programs of the ARD in Germany . The term comes from the fact that in the 1960s there were initially only two national television programs , the First and Second German Television . The regionally oriented and therefore only regionally broadcast television programs were thus the third programs in their area of ​​distribution. The individual ARD broadcasters are responsible for the third programs .

Content

The third television programs today are consistently full programs with a high proportion of regional information (state shows, regional magazines). In addition to series and television films (mainly repeats of the first), show and entertainment formats, some with regional reference, feature films and magazines on a wide variety of topics (health, hobby, advice, business and consumer, science / research, etc.) are running In other television programs, the information and culture content is very high. In addition to country and nature reports, documentaries and political magazines, educational programs, cabaret and concert recordings can also be seen.

In addition to the regional focus, the third party programs originally had a few other characteristics:

• They are ad-free .
• They contain a high proportion of education-oriented programs.
• They broadcast or broadcast school television and tele-college .
• Before Eins Plus , 3sat and Arte were set up , one of their priorities was the cultural program .

Today's programs

Third television programs with their associated state broadcasters

Television program	logo	State broadcaster	annotation
BR television		Bavarian radio	Separation between Franconia and Swabia / Old Bavaria
hr television		Hessian radio	no regional disconnections
MDR television		Central German radio	Disconnection for the three state broadcasting houses of the MDR
NDR television		Northern German Radio	Separation for the four national broadcasting houses of the NDR
Radio Bremen TV		Radio Bremen	With the exception of the regional programs, the content is identical to that of NDR television
rbb television		Broadcasting Berlin-Brandenburg	Separation between Berlin and Brandenburg
SR television		Saarland radio	Self-produced share approx. 30%, plus a jacket program designed in cooperation with SWR television
SWR television		Südwestrundfunk	two regional versions of SWR Fernsehen Baden-Württemberg and SWR Fernsehen Rheinland-Pfalz with a uniform program that is designed in cooperation with SR Fernsehen
WDR television		West German Broadcasting Cologne	regional breakdowns in eleven regions

history

Establishment of the "third programs"

The first of today's nine programs was the Bavarian Broadcasting (BR) with its study program (from 1973 Bayerisches Fernsehen ) on September 22nd, 1964, followed by the Hessischer Rundfunk (hr) with the Hessian television program on October 5th, 1964. On January 4th In 1965 the III. TV program of the Nordkette (a joint program of the North German Broadcasting (NDR) , Radio Bremen and the Sender Free Berlin (SFB) ) and on December 17, 1965 the West German Broadcasting Cologne (WDR) with its program WDF / West German television . For the time being, the Süddeutsche Rundfunk (SDR) , the Südwestfunk (SWF) and the Saarländische Rundfunk (SR) were at the bottom with their joint program Südwest 3 , which went on air on April 5, 1969.

In the 1980s, some state broadcasters renamed their programs, the 3 was more firmly anchored in the station names. The HR called its program from 1983 hessen 3 , the WDR from 1988 West 3 and NDR / Radio Bremen / SFB from 1989 N3 . However, the BR never officially called its third television program Bayern 3 (this name is reserved for a radio program ), although the name is still used colloquially for it today.

reunion

After German reunification , the eastern states of Brandenburg , Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania , Saxony , Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia also introduced their own regional television programs : in 1992, the Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk (MDR) and the Ostdeutscher Rundfunk Brandenburg (ORB) two more state broadcasters joined the ARD , composed of the former German television broadcasting company (DFF) . On January 1, 1992, the East German regional programs as MDR television (for Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia) and as ORB television (for Brandenburg) were launched. The state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania joined the NDR at the time, the SFB separated from the joint program N3 and went on air with its own third television program B1 (later SFB1 ) on October 1, 1992.

The term “third programs” was no longer used for the newly created programs because there were now a large number of programs. The programs of the other state broadcasters gradually received the names they are used today.

Changes since the late 1990s

In 1998 SDR and SWF merged to form today's Südwestrundfunk (SWR) , a first consequence of (political) demands to optimize TV and radio stations. At the same time, the independent SR from Südwest 3 got out and founded its own SR television , which, however, still had many programs together with the new Südwest Fernsehen .

With the merger of SFB and ORB to form the new Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (rbb) in 2003, the two television programs were also renamed; these were now called RBB Brandenburg (previously ORB-Fernsehen) and RBB Berlin (previously SFB1). Since February 29, 2004 there has been a uniform program for the rbb broadcasting area with rbb television , which is split between Berlin and Brandenburg for half an hour every day.

With the merger of the rbb programs, the number of “third parties” was reduced from nine to eight.

Since January 2005, however, there have been nine programs again, because Radio Bremen is now broadcasting its regional content, which was previously broadcast on Erste, on “Third”, the so-called Radio Bremen TV . Outside of the regional routes, which are now limited to the time from 6:00 p.m. to 6:15 p.m. and from 7:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., Radio Bremen TV takes over the programming of NDR television.

With the renaming of Südwest Fernssehen to SWR Fernsehen on September 11, 2006 , all programs , with the exception of Bavarian TV , had the name of the respective state broadcaster in the station name.

On April 11, 2016, Bayerischer Fernsehen was also renamed BR Fernsehen after its broadcasting company, Bayerischer Rundfunk. This means that all third-party television programs are now named after the abbreviation of their respective state broadcaster.

Current situation and market shares

With the advent of digital transmission technologies such as cable and satellite television , the technical restrictions on tight bandwidths that had previously restricted the range of programs no longer existed . Since then, almost all third-party programs can be received throughout Germany. In addition, third-party programs from outside the region are broadcast terrestrially via DVB-T2 . For example, NDR in Lower Saxony broadcasts its own third program, NDR TV, as well as WDR TV (regional version Cologne), MDR TV (regional version Saxony-Anhalt) and hr-fernsehen via all transmitter locations used. On a daily average, the regional TV programs of the ARD stations have the following market shares within their own broadcasting areas:

1. MDR television 9.1%
2. NDR television and Radio Bremen TV 7.4%
3. BR television 7.4%
4. WDR television 6.4%
5. SWR television and SR television 6.0%
6. rbb television with 5.9%
7. HR television 5.7%

Radio Bremen TV and SR Fernsehen are not shown separately, but rather combined with the NDR and SWR. In nationwide quota measurements, the third parties are rarely shown individually, but mostly their nationwide total ranges are added together. In 2018, all third-party programs together had a market share of 12.7 percent and are between ZDF (13.9 percent) and the first (11.5 percent). On the other hand, they are individually significantly lower on a national average than in their own supply area.

With the introduction of DVB-T2 HD from March 29, 2017 in the metropolitan areas, the following program allocation results for the third programs:

No.	Distribution area	BR	Mr	mdr	NDR	Radio Bremen TV	rbb	SR	SWR	WDR
1	Bavaria	X X	X	X	X		x		X
2a	Hesse (north)		X	X	X				X	X
2 B	Hesse (south)	X	X		X		X		X
3	Central Germany	X	X	X XX	x		X		x	X
4a	Hamburg	x		X	X XXX				x	x
4b	Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania	x		x	X XXX		X			x
4c	Lower Saxony	x	x	x	X XXX					X
4d	Schleswig-Holstein	x		X	X XXX				x	x
5	Bremen	x	x	x	XXXX	X				X
6th	Berlin-Brandenburg	X	X	X	X		X X		x	X
7th	Saarland	X	X					X	XX	X
8th	SWR area	X	X						X X	X
9	North Rhine-Westphalia			X	X				X	X X (X)
10	Austria ( SimpliTV )	X			x
11	South Tyrol ( RAS , DVB-T)	x
12	SES Astra (HD / SD simulcast)	XX	X	XXX	XXXX	X	XX	X	XX	Xxxxxx xxxxx
13	ARD media library	XX	X	XXX	XXXX	X	XX	X	XX	X

Marked in bold with an X , indicates the television program of the respective local state broadcaster; Multiple Xs stand for the option to select regional news; and small x stand for capacity-related interruptions (via DVB-T (2) in Germany during the disconnection of the responsible third party) or quality deterioration from HD to SD (via DVB-T (2) abroad all day; via Astra however only during the disconnection) .

Radio Bremen TV went on air on January 7, 2019 as the last third television program with its HD offshoot on SES Astra.

Regional reporting

Aachen Bielefeld Bonn Dortmund Duisburg Dusseldorf eat Cologne Muenster Wins Wuppertal

The WDR has by far the most regionalized third television program. The station has 11 regional studios in North Rhine-Westphalia.

Of the characteristics mentioned, almost only the aspect of regional reporting remains. There is a tendency, however, to broadcast somewhat more cultural and minority-specific programs than Das Erste, as well as programs that cause lower production costs, such as talk shows. However, such distinguishing features of the regional broadcasters for the first have faded into the background.

The WDR has the most regionalized third television program. The station has eleven regional studios in North Rhine-Westphalia .

Regional separation also takes place at BR television ( Franconia and Swabia / Altbayern ), MDR television (Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia), NDR television ( Hamburg , Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania , Lower Saxony , Schleswig-Holstein ), rbb television ( Berlin , Brandenburg) and SWR television ( Baden-Württemberg , Rhineland-Palatinate ). The third programs are currently broadcast in a total of 27 regional versions.

Appearance

Since the beginning of broadcasting or at least in the 1980s and 1990s, some of the regional public television programs of the ARD presented themselves as a “third” program due to their appearance. They had a three in their name and logo.

• 

  Hesse 3

• 

  N3

• 

  Southwest 3

• 

  West 3

Today all third-party television programs have given up the "3" in appearance, mostly in order to adapt their appearance to the umbrella brands of the broadcasting corporations and to integrate themselves into the appearance of the broadcasting corporations. Membership in the third programs is only mentioned in the station slogans or mostly spoken in the program promotion. That was the slogan of SWR television “Our third”.

Another advantage was to have a demarcation to the radio programs:

• Hessen 3 ≠ hr3
• Southwest 3 ≠ SWR3 (previously SWF3 )
• West 3 ≠ WDR 3

literature

• Hermann Bausinger : Mediation of the near world? About the function of the regional programs . 1977 ( full text )

See also

• Television in Germany

Individual evidence

1. ↑ http://www.dwdl.de/nachrichten/55109/br_fernsehen_wird_zum_11_april_komplett_renoviert/
2. ↑ Market shares of the third channels in their respective broadcasting area (2018). mdr, accessed August 12, 2019 . 
3. ↑ Das Erste (Ed.): 2018 Quality and Quota. (Online: market shares of selected television programs in 2018 - total broadcast days. ) February 2019
4. ↑ Press release ARD DIGITAL: Program allocation “Third programs” from March 29, 2017 . ARD digital . March 1, 2017. Accessed March 30, 2017.