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Terrestrial channels received by antenna (Antenne):
Apart from the two national public networks, ARD and ZDF, the majority of channels in Germany are relatively low brow and aimed at an audience who are willing to absorb as much sensationalism as the brain allows. There appears to be a reluctance in Germany to make quality German programmes and intellectual attention is directed towards the Theatre and Arts. It is difficult to determine if one is the result of the other.
Reliable German networks:
The two credible terrestrial German channels offer a good mix of news, documentaries, dramas and European films. They also cover the main sporting events e.g. the Olympics, European Football Championship etc. ARD's Tagesschau is Germany's most accurate and watched news programme. Most other channels don't start their evening's attractions until it ends at 20:15.| CHANNEL | WEB ADDRESS | FREQUENCY FOR ANTENNA | FREQUENCY FOR CABLE | HIGHLIGHTS (OR COMMENTS) | | ARD | www.ard.de | 7 | 10 | Tagesschau | | ZDF | www.zdf.de | 33 | 8 | French films |
Flashy commercial channels:
Supplying flickering images to the masses are the elite band of commercial channels. The daily format is more or less as follows:- Sensationalist news, talk show, sensationalist news, talk show, quiz show, talk show, badly dubbed sit-com, sensationalist investigative magazine programme, sensationalist news, dubbed American drama (sometimes substituted by a ludicrous German action series), dubbed Hollywood film, (and if you're lucky) a few naked bottoms accompanied by saxophone music. Quality programmes are sometimes inadvertently slipped in the schedule but be prepared for the regular 10 minute long advertisements breaks. If you can stay the course and make it until midnight, you will be treated to an array of badly made phone-sex adverts in the ad-breaks. Only the very desperate could be titillated...surely. | CHANNEL | WEB ADDRESS | FREQUENCY FOR ANTENNA | FREQUENCY FOR CABLE | HIGHLIGHTS (OR COMMENTS) | | SAT.1 | www.sat1.de | 25 | 9 | ran - football, Star Trek? | | RTL | www.rtl.de | 56 | 11 | Champions League Football, Top of the Pops, South Park | | RTLII | www.rtl2.de | 47 | 4 | Big Brother, nudity | | PRO7 | www.pro7.de | 44 | SK20 | The Simpsons, Friends, X Files | | VOX | www.vox.de | 29 | SK11 | Ally McBeal |
Berlin and regional channels:
This motley crew of evidently under-funded channels certainly doesn't add to the value of your television. Although ORB (a reinvention of an old eastern channel) and B1 sometimes show a nice film and some old GDR stuff, they come across as rather dull. They do, nevertheless, both simultaneously broadcast the Tagesschau while it's on ARD. FAB (Fernsehen aus Berlin) and TVB are, however, poor, poor attempts at commercial channels with FAB collecting the wooden spoon for its unbelievable made-in-someone's-bedroom appearance. | CHANNEL | WEB ADDRESS | FREQUENCY FOR ANTENNA | FREQUENCY FOR CABLE | HIGHLIGHTS (OR COMMENTS) | | B1 | www.sfb.de/fernsehen | 39 | 6 | Berlin Beat | | ORB | www.orb.de | 27 | 2 | Occasionally shows a classic film | | FAB | www.fab.de | 22 | 12 | The 15 minute long adverts reduce the quality even more | | TVB | www.tvb.de | 5 | SK7 | Ridiculous Bavarian "erotic" comedy romps |
English-speaking superiority:
Head and shoulders above the rest for quality un-biased world news coverage and global current affairs. | CHANNEL | WEB ADDRESS | FREQUENCY FOR ANTENNA | FREQUENCY FOR CABLE | HIGHLIGHTS (OR COMMENTS) | | BBC World | www.bbcworld.com | 41 | 7 | Hourly news, Top Gear, Hard Talk |
NOTE:
Without a proper wall socket and with only an aerial connected to the back of your set, only a veritable lucky dip of channels is receivable:- ARD, ORB, B1, PRO7, TVB and BBC World. With a wall socket and house aerial, all of the above should be receivable.
Cable Channels:
If that selection doesn't stimulate all your neural receptors then for about € 30 a month you can take your pick from up to around twenty other televisual offerings with a cable (Kabel) connection. This is simply done by speaking to your telephone company and the extra change will be added to your bill. Enjoy!
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