Public service broadcasting in Germany is largely financed by licence fees, payable by households with radio or television sets (37 million). Upon recommendation of an independent panel of experts, the fee level is set by joint decision of the Länder for a period of up to five years. Fees are collected by GEZ, an agency specifically set up for this purpose by the public broadcasters. The income is shared between ZDF and the regional stations of public broadcasting association ARD who also run a number of television channels and radio stations.

The licence fee is made up of two elements: a basic fee (currently 5.76 Euro per month) and a television fee (12.22 €). TV households are thus liable to pay 17.98 Euro per month (215.76 per year). The ZDF share is 26 per cent.

 

Advertising and sponsorship are other important sources of funding. Advertising time for ZDF and ARD is legally restricted to a maximum of twenty minutes per day from Monday to Saturday before 8:00 pm.

 

Since the launch of the first commercial television stations in Germany in 1984, ZDF and its fellow public broadcasters of ARD have experienced growing competition for viewers' attention. Today, two rival media groups dominate the commercial television sector in Germany, the largest advertising market in Europe: ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG (majority shareholders: KKR/Permira) and RTL Group (Bertelsmann), which operate most of the country’s bigger and smaller commercial stations.

 

Over 90 percent of viewers receive their TV signal by cable or satellite. In this environment of well over 40 available free-to-air channels, pay-TV has so far made little impact in Germany.