ARD and Dritte in SD resolution history in a few hours
Tomorrow, Tuesday, the ARD channels will stop broadcasting their programs in SD via satellite. Vodafone has also switched off the SD channels.
(Image: Cineberg/Shutterstock)
On January 7, 2025, ARD will cease broadcasting Das Erste and all third television programs of the state broadcasters in SD resolution via satellite. Viewers will then be able to receive all ARD television programs exclusively in HD. Vodafone, Germany's largest cable network operator with 11 million TV customers according to its figures, will also only make the corresponding channels available in HD.
Viewers can tell whether they are already watching in HD by the suffix "HD" in the program name in the channel list (e.g. Das Erste HD) or in the current program in the channel logo. If not, a channel search will be necessary. Last November, heise online reported that satellite receivers were being renamed during operation via the EPG. For example, "Das Erste" became "alt_Das Erste" when switching channels. However, this did not change the sorting in the program lists.
Most TV households in the cable network already have HD reception: According to Vodafone, significantly less than two percent of cable customers use a TV receiver that only supports SD quality. These are TV receivers from Kabel Deutschland or Unitymedia that are more than 12 years old. in 2023, around 93% of the 36 million TV households in Germany will already be able to watch TV in HD across all reception channels. Today, there are likely to be even more TV households.
Households that do not have an HD-capable television (new televisions have been HD-capable since around 2010) should connect an HD receiver with a Scart connection to the television. HD-capable TV receivers that also work with older televisions can be purchased from specialist retailers.
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ZDF to follow in November
ZDF is not planning to switch to SD resolution until November 18, 2025. SD broadcasting of the channels One, tagesschau24, arte and phoenix was already ended in 2022
The change follows savings recommendations from the Commission for the Determination of the Financial Requirements of Broadcasters (KEF). It had already recommended switching off the SD broadcasting of ARD and ZDF via satellite. Three years ago, the KEF had indicated the potential savings of 13.7 million euros and cut the funds for SD broadcasting.
(nij)
