As one of the largest industrial nations and with the largest population in the European Union

European Union

The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...

, Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 today offers a vast diversity of television stations.

Public Channels

ARD

ARD (broadcaster)

ARD is a joint organization of Germany's regional public-service broadcasters...

, consortium of German public broadcasting

Public broadcasting

Public broadcasting includes radio, television and other electronic media outlets whose primary mission is public service. Public broadcasters receive funding from diverse sources including license fees, individual contributions, public financing and commercial financing.Public broadcasting may be...

 services, consisting of the following public stations (which also provide regional programming in separate channels):

• Das Erste
  Das Erste
  Erstes Deutsches Fernsehen , marketed as Das Erste , is the principal publicly owned television channel in Germany...
  
   (The First) (ARD)
  • EinsExtra
    EinsExtra
    EinsExtra is a digital television channel from the German broadcaster ARD, available as part of the ARD digital package of channels. It launched on 30 August 1997....
    
     (Digital only via Cable or Satellite and in some areas via DVB-T
    DVB-T
    DVB-T is an abbreviation for Digital Video Broadcasting — Terrestrial; it 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 the UK in 1998...
    
    )
  • EinsFestival
    EinsFestival
    Einsfestival is a digital television channel from the German broadcaster ARD, which owns the flagship The First . It launched on 30 August 1997.Einsfestival is available on satellite and cable in Germany, and in some regions by digital terrestrial...
    
     (Digital only via Cable or Satellite and in some areas via DVB-T)
  • EinsPlus
    EinsPlus
    EinsPlus is a digital television channel from the German broadcaster ARD, available as part of the ARD digital package of channels. It launched on 23 April 2005 as EinsMuXx...
    
     (Digital only via Cable or Satellite and in some areas via DVB-T)
• Bayerischer Rundfunk
  Bayerischer Rundfunk
  Bayerischer Rundfunk [Bavarian Broadcasting] is the public broadcasting authority for the German Freistaat of Bavaria, with its main offices located in Munich. BR is a member of ARD.- Legal foundation :...
  
   (BR)
  • Bayerisches Fernsehen - Third TV channel for Bavaria.
  • BR-alpha
    BR-alpha
    BR-alpha is a German television station owned by regional broadcaster Bayerischer Rundfunk BR-alpha broadcasts 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, with programmes from BR, as well as from ARD and Austrian broadcaster ORF.-Programmes:...
    
     — German education channel, with TV courses
• Hessischer Rundfunk
  Hessischer Rundfunk
  Hessischer Rundfunk is the public broadcaster for the German state of Hesse. The main offices of HR are in Frankfurt am Main. HR is a member of the ARD.- Studios :...
  
   (HR)
  • HR Fernsehen
• Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk
  Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk
  Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk is the public broadcaster for the federal states of Thuringia, Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt...
  
   (MDR)
  • MDR Fernsehen
• Norddeutscher Rundfunk
  Norddeutscher Rundfunk
  Norddeutscher Rundfunk is a public radio and television broadcaster, based in Hamburg. In addition to the city-state of Hamburg, NDR transmits for the German states of Lower Saxony, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Schleswig-Holstein...
  
   (NDR)
  • NDR Fernsehen
    NDR Fernsehen
    NDR Fernsehen is a regional television channel targeting northern Germany, specifically the states of Schleswig-Holstein, Lower Saxony, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Hamburg and Bremen. It is broadcast by both Norddeutscher Rundfunk and Radio Bremen, although NDR provides most of the output as they are...
    
    
• Radio Bremen
  Radio Bremen
  Radio Bremen , Germany's smallest public radio and television broadcaster, is the legally mandated broadcaster for the city-state of Bremen...
  
   (RB)
  • Radio Bremen TV
• Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg
  Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg
  Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg is an institution under public law for the states of Berlin and Brandenburg, situated in Berlin and Potsdam...
  
   (RBB; established on 1 May 2003 from a merger of the former Sender Freies Berlin and Ostdeutscher Rundfunk Brandenburg)
  • RBB Berlin
  • RBB Brandenburg
• Saarländischer Rundfunk
  Saarländischer Rundfunk
  Saarländischer Rundfunk is a public radio and television broadcaster for the German Bundesland of Saarland, with its headquarters in the Broadcasting House Halberg in Saarbrücken. SR is a member of the ARD.- Finances :...
  
   (SR)
  • SR Fernsehen
• Südwestrundfunk
  Südwestrundfunk
  The Südwestrundfunk is a public broadcasting company for the southwest of Germany, specifically the states of Baden-Württemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate. The company has main offices in three cities: Stuttgart, Baden-Baden and Mainz, with the director's office being in Stuttgart. It is an...
  
   (SWR; established on 1 October 1998 from a merger of the former Südwestfunk and Süddeutscher Rundfunk)
  • SWR Fernsehen
    SWR Fernsehen
    SWR Fernsehen is a German regional television channel targeting the states of Baden-Württemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate. It is produced by Südwestrundfunk and is one of eight regional "third channels" broadcast by the ARD members....
    
    
• Westdeutscher Rundfunk
  Westdeutscher Rundfunk
  Westdeutscher Rundfunk is a German public-broadcasting institution based in the Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia with its main office in Cologne. WDR is a constituent member of the consortium of German public-broadcasting institutions, ARD...
  
   (WDR)
  • WDR Fernsehen
    WDR Fernsehen
    WDR Fernsehen is a regional public service television station owned & operated by Westdeutscher Rundfunk and serving North Rhine-Westphalia. It is one of the seven regional "third programmes" that are offered within the federal ARD network....
    
    

ZDF

ZDF

Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen , ZDF, is a public-service German television broadcaster based in Mainz . It is run as an independent non-profit institution, which was founded by the German federal states . The ZDF is financed by television licence fees called GEZ and advertising revenues...

, Second German Television:

• • ZDFneo
    ZDFneo
    ZDFneo is a German digital terrestrial television channel, programmed for an audience aged 18 to 45 to counter the primarily older-skewing main programmes of public broadcasters ZDF and ARD. It replaced ZDF's documentary channel, "ZDFdokukanal", on November 1, 2009.-Name:Although the channel's logo...
    
     (Digital only via Cable, Satellite, and DVB-T
    DVB-T
    DVB-T is an abbreviation for Digital Video Broadcasting — Terrestrial; it 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 the UK in 1998...
    
    ), public
  • ZDFinfokanal (Digital only via Cable, Satellite, and DVB-T), public
  • ZDFtheaterkanal, now ZDFkultur (Digital only via Cable or Satellite), public
  • ZDFdokukanal (1997–2009) (Digital only via Cable, Satellite, and from 21:00 until 6:00 CET via DVB-T), public
• KI.KA
  KI.KA
  KI.KA is a public non-commercial free television channel based in Erfurt, Germany. It is a joint venture of national public television channels ARD, and ARD's constituent broadcasting institutions – BR, HR, MDR, NDR, Radio Bremen, RBB, Saarländischer Rundfunk, SWR, WDR and ZDF, and is targeted at...
  
   Der Kinderkanal — public, non-commercial children's TV, with support of ARD and ZDF
• Arte
  Arte
  Arte is a Franco-German TV network. It is a European culture channel and aims to promote quality programming especially in areas of culture and the arts...
  
   — Public Franco
  France
  The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
  
  -German culture channel from ARD, ZDF and France Télévisions
  France Télévisions
  France Télévisions is the French public national television broadcaster. It is a state-owned company formed from the bringing together of the public television channels France 2 and France 3 , later joined by the legally independent channels France 5 , France Ô , and France 4 France Télévisions ...
  
  
• 3sat
  3sat
  3sat is the name of a public, advertising-free, television network in Central Europe. The programming is in German and is broadcast primarily within Germany, Austria and Switzerland .3sat was established for cultural...
  
   - Cultural network from the ARD, ZDF, ORF (Austrian Broadcasting), and SRG
  SRG SSR idée suisse
  SRG SSR is the Swiss public broadcasting organisation, founded in 1931 as SRG-SSR. Headquartered in Bern, SRG SSR is a non-profit organisation, funded mainly through radio and television licence fees and making the remaining income from advertising and sponsorship.Switzerland's system of direct...
  
   (Swiss Broadcasting).
• Phoenix
  Phoenix (German TV station)
  Phoenix is a publicly-funded television station in Germany which is produced jointly by public broadcasting organizations ARD and ZDF. Its programming consists of documentaries, news broadcasts, special events coverage, and discussion programmes...
  
   — public - with information, documentaries, news, jointly operated by ARD and ZDF
• Deutscher Fernsehfunk
  Deutscher Fernsehfunk
  Deutscher Fernsehfunk , known from 1972 to 1990 as Fernsehen der DDR , was the state television broadcaster in East Germany.-Foundation:...
  
   or "Fernsehen der DDR" operated the two (now defunct) television networks of East Germany

Private Channels

RTL Group

RTL Group

RTL Group is Europe's largest TV, radio and production company, and is majority-owned by German media conglomerate Bertelsmann. It has 45 television and 32 radio stations in 11 countries...

• RTL Television
  RTL Television
  Rtl.de' redirects here. For other uses, see RTL.RTL Television , or simply RTL, is a German commercial television station distributed via cable and satellite along with DVB-T , in larger population centres...
  
  
• VOX
• RTL II
  RTL II
  RTL II is a privately owned, commercial, general-interest German television channel.It was founded as a second-generation commercial broadcaster in 1993. It quickly became infamous for its perceived "trash programming", comprising lots of soft porn as well as shows such as Peep and many...
  
  
• Super RTL
  Super RTL
  Super RTL is a Cologne-based German television network operated by RTL Disney Fernsehen GmbH & Co. KG. It was the second German television channel aimed mostly at children...
  
  
• n-tv
  N-tv
  n-tv is a German television news channel owned by the Bertelsmann AG Media's RTL Group and an affiliate network of CNN since the networks creation in 1992....
  
  

ProSiebenSat.1 Media

ProSiebenSat.1 Media

ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG is a European media conglomerate, operating commercial television, premium pay channels, radio stations and related print businesses. It was formed on October 2, 2000 by merger of German TV broadcasters ProSieben Media AG and Sat.1 SatellitenFernsehen GmbH...

• Sat.1
  Sat.1
  Sat.1 is a privately owned German television broadcasting station. Sat.1 was the first privately owned television broadcasting station in Germany, having started one day before RTL Television....
  
  
• ProSieben
• kabel eins
  Kabel 1
  kabel eins is a commercial television channel in Germany. It started business on 29 February 1992, as the Kabelkanal and belongs to the ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG. The channel is largely known for showing classic American films as well as series and documentaries...
  
  
• sixx
  Sixx
  sixx is a German commercial television station specialised for women. The channel is distributed via cable and satellite and was launched on 7 May 2010 at 20:15.- Current Foreign series :* 90210* Brothers & Sisters...
  
  
• N24
  N24 (Germany)
  N24 is a television news channel based in Germany. It is owned N24 Media GmbH. It was previously owned and operated by ProSiebenSat.1 Media. N24 provides regular news updates to ProSiebenSat.1 Media properties like kabel eins and ProSieben.-History:...
  
  
• 9Live
  9Live
  9Live was a commercial German participation TV channel launched on September 1, 2001 and lasted until August 9, 2011. It originated from a channel called tm3. Most of its programming is lottery and quiz games, in which the viewer can participate over the phone...
  
  

Viacom

Viacom

Viacom Inc. , short for "Video & Audio Communications", is an American media conglomerate with interests primarily in, but not limited to, cinema and cable television...

• Viva
• Comedy Central
  Comedy Central Germany
  Comedy Central Germany is a German speaking equivalent to Comedy Central. The channel is available free-to-air and on local digital/cable operators in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. It broadcasts many American and British imports as well as original programming. It launched on January 15, 2007...
  
  
• Nickelodeon

Others

• DMAX
  DMAX (TV channel)
  DMAX is a men's lifestyle channel operated by Discovery Networks Deutschland free-to-air in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Though the channel is widely available throughout the rest of Europe...
  
  
• SPORT1
  Sport1
  Sport1 is a Dutch premium television service owned by Chellomedia, the European content division of Liberty Global. Sport1 launched together with its sister service Film1 on February 1, 2006 and replaced the Canal+ Netherlands channels. At launch the service consisted of two main channels, six...
  
  
• Tele 5
  Tele 5
  Tele 5 is a commercial television channel in Germany. The channel is largely known for showing classic American films and series, Japanese Anime and Shows.Tele 5 broadcasts from the Astra 1H, 1M, and 3A satellites and is uplinked by ASTRA Platform Services....
  
  
• Das Vierte
• Anixe SD/HD

Pay-TV

sky Deutschland

sky

• sky Cinema
  Sky Film
  Sky Film is a German set of movie channels owned by Sky Deutschland.The Sky Film package includes eleven Sky-branded channels:*Sky Cinema, the premium channel with 20 television premieres per month.*Sky Cinema +1, Sky Cinema with an hour delay....
  
  
• sky Cinema +1
• sky Cinema +24
• sky Cinema Hits
• sky Action
• sky Emotion
• sky Comedy
• sky Nostalgie
• sky Krimi
  Sky Krimi
  Sky Krimi is a German television channel dedicated to crime series. It mostly features original German language productions.It started out as "Krimi & Co" on the DF1 satellite platform when it launched. DF1 had several channels dedicated to television series, including soap channel Herz & Co and...
  
  
• sky select
• sky sport Info
• sky sport 1
  Sky Sport (Germany)
  Sky Sport is a German set of sports channels.Events broadcast on the channels include UEFA Champions League, DFB-Pokal , UEFA Cup, Premier League, Formula One, DEL, golf and professional wrestling like WWE and TNA...
  
  
• sky sport 2
• sky Bundesliga

Disney

• Disney Channel
  Disney Channel
  Disney Channel is an American basic cable and satellite television network, owned by the Disney-ABC Television Group division of The Walt Disney Company. It is under the direction of Disney-ABC Television Group President Anne Sweeney. The channel's headquarters is located on West Alameda Ave. in...
  
  
• Playhouse Disney
• Disney XD
• Disney Cinemagic

EM.TV

• Junior

TNT

• TNT Film (TCM)
• TNT Serie
• Boomerang
• Cartoon Network

ProSiebenSat.1

• kabel eins classics
• Sat.1 Comedy

FOX

• Fox Channel
  Fox Channel (Germany)
  Fox Channel is a German television channel dedicated to television drama series.The channel started broadcasting on the Arena platform and the Unitymedia cable network on May 20, 2008....
  
  

MTV Networks

• MTV Germany
• MTV Music
• Nicktoons
• Nick Jr.

HD

• sky Cinema HD
• sky sport HD
• Disney Cinemagic HD
• Eurosport HD
• National Geographic HD
• Discovery HD

Others

• Discovery Channel
• National Geographic
• Nat Geo Wild
• Focus Gesundheit
• Spiegel Geschichte
• Animax
• beate-uhse.tv
• 13th Street
• RTL Crime
• RTL Passion
• RTL Living
• MGM
• AXN
• Syfy
• Kinowelt TV
• Heimatkanal
• Romance TV
• Motorvision
• sportdigital.tv
• Eurosport 2
• ESPN America
• Biography
• History
• Goldstar
• Classica
• Blue Movie

Special

• Big Brother