Public service broadcasting channel – All Germans can watch this channels but they need to pay a kind of “tax” (but officially it is a tv licence) to watch this channels, whether they want or not. The Germans pay around 7.5 billion euro per year for these “public channels”. In Germany we call this tax “Rundfunkbeitrag”. BTW, the public can´t check or verify how much money is destinated for each channel (but that is another story). ZDF Television – “The strongest public channel in Germany” ZDF is the battleship of the public channels and I believe the strongest public channel in Germany, because almost all the important and expensive programs that the public television have, are shown here. With their base in Mainz, Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (Second German Television), ZDF, run as an independent non-profit agency established by joint contract between the German federal states (Bundesländer). ZDF is funded from the “Rundfunkbeitrag” (the tax about I talked at the begining) and advertising. ZDF have some thematic channels as ZDFneo, ZDFinfo and ZDFkultur and is involved in 3sat, Arte, the children’s channel KIKA and Phoenix. The ZDF program: Information and Entertainment Information, education, culture and entertainment are at the center of public full program. Shown news series, magazines, reports, films, TV shows, entertainment shows and sports. The information includes the newscasts “heute” and “heute-journal”. A focus on the TV channel program in addition to documentaries and historical series magazines. The talk shows are political talk shows “Maybritt Illner” and “Markus Lanz”. Also, comedy and satire programs such as the “heute-show” und “Pelzig hält sich” are on the program. The entertainment options include the cooking shows “Lafer!Lichter!Lecker!” and “Die Küchenschlacht”. “SOKO”, “Küstenwache”, “Die Rosenheim-Cops”, “Der Bergdoktor”, “Bella Block”, “Kommissarin Lucas”, “Der Staatsanwalt” and “Rosa Roth” are also several self-produced crime series on the ZDF program. The Cult ZDF programs Many ZDF programs have achieved cult status. This includes Saturday night show “Wetten, dass” that has been on air for 37 years! Another famous program on ZDF since 1981 is, “Das Traumschiff” a dream boat that transport its passengers to the most beautiful resorts in the world. A classic Friday night is the crime series “Der Alte” that we talked in another article. How do I receive ZDF channels? If you want to escape the routine, watch the programs of ZDF on GermanTV24.com online. It´s a great deal!