Media in Germany – Panorama

Public broadcasting in Germany is financed primarily through licence fees. However, it cannot be overlooked that the number of companies taking part in programmes is increasing, and additional business resulting from competitions and telephone hotlines also has the tills ringing at ARD and ZDF.

Every cinema visitor and every television viewer in Germany is familiar with the three letters GEZ, which stand for "Gebühreneinzugszentrale der öffentlichen-rechtlichen Rundfunkanstalten in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland" (i.e. the German central licence-fee collection office). GEZ always comes up in connection with "licence-dodging", which is something like "fare-dodging" on the underground - embarrassing, expensive and not really worth it.

The GEZ collects EUR 17.03 per month in fees from listeners and viewers on behalf of ARD's nine regional public television and radio stations, DeutschlandRadio and Germany's second national TV channel, ZDF. That is provided for in the "Rundfunkgebührenstaatsvertrag" (i.e. State Agreement on Broadcasting Fees). It provides for a monthly fee to be paid for every receiver, i.e. every television or radio (regardless of whether the viewer watches ARD and ZDF or only private stations). Billions of euro are thus collected from the 40 million or so listeners and viewers, 6.75 billion in 2002. The money is divided up between ARD's stations and ZDF according to a fixed formula.

80 per cent of income from fees

Broadcasting fees are the public broadcasters' most important source of finance (80 per cent of income). The philosophy is that it is not the state, a powerful interest group, or a particular company, but the television viewers and radio listeners themselves who finance the regional public television and radio stations' programmes through their licence fees. The intention is for public television to be able to provide objective information without having to bend to any government or commercial influence. Criticism flares up over the remaining 20 per cent. It is not television advertising that is in dispute. The public broadcasters are only allowed to screen 20 minutes of advertising per working day, which must be before 8.00 p.m. According to ARD information, advertising revenues make up just 2.2 per cent of its financing.

"Co-financing"

In contrast, "co-productions, co-financing and programme use" account for 17.3 per cent of revenues. Critics call this euphemism simply "sleuth advertising". Viewers are sufficiently well-acquainted with it. On Thomas Gottschalk's Saturday evening show on ZDF (latest programme's audience rating: 44 per cent) Mercedes has its new models roll onto the stage, paying EUR 750,000 to do so. T-Mobile has new mobile phones presented and pays EUR 900,000 for the privilege. ARD clocks up EUR 5.3 million in telephone charges just to vote for the (football) "Goal of the Week" on the "Sportschau". Competitions encourage viewers to phone in. The broadcasters share the expensive telephone charges with the telephone providers.

Influence on "programming"

Because television viewers like to avoid watching entire advertising blocks, companies have come up with new ways of winning consumers' favour. Product placement is one such well-worn method. Demonstratively placing a particular champagne brand in view for 30 seconds in a series brings in EUR 25,000.

Sponsoring or "programming", as it is also called in the industry, goes a step further. It involves companies or lobby groups coming up with the idea and paying for entire programmes. The Central Marketing Organisation of German Agricultural Industries (CMA), for example, sponsored the series "Abenteuer Landwirtschaft" (i.e. The Agricultural Adventure), shown on 3sat, ARD's cultural channel, and on ZDF. This practice has been commonplace among private stations for a long time: a popular science programme on Pro 7 sometimes even includes company videos in its programme planning. Even news items are supplied by PR firms on behalf of customers to create "a television presence for information and personalities from your company".

ARD and ZDF experts calculate that these channels' total revenues add up to some EUR 100 million. Just a "drop in the ocean" in comparison with the EUR 6.5 billion collected in fees. However, if viewers are no longer completely sure whether the programme they are watching is advertising or not, whether lobbyists or an interest group played a part in writing the script with the aim of plugging something, then a large share of credibility is at stake. The great journalist Hans-Joachim Friedrichs once said, "You can recognise good journalism by the fact that it does not collaborate in any cause, not even a good one."