defilmtv1-7, Exercise 1: Regions, licence fee and ZDF

Model answer:

After the Nazi years the lesson was that broadcasting should not be run by the national government. The constitution gave the regions (the Länder) responsibility for it, public broadcasters were set up for different regions with boards that include representatives of society, and they were funded mainly by a household licence fee and not by taxes, to keep them at arm's length from government. In 1950 the regional broadcasters joined to form ARD.

ZDF came about after the federal government tried in 1960 to set up its own national television company. The Constitutional Court ruled against it in 1961, on the ground that broadcasting belonged to the regions, and the Länder together founded ZDF, which began broadcasting in 1963 (check the details).