German public broadcasters ARD and ZDF will interconnect their catch-up TV services with the first step being a cross-linking search function available from November 18, 2019.
With the move, the broadcasters react to the usage habits of their viewers who have been searching ZDF content on ARD’s catch-up service and vice versa, Benjamin Fischer, head of ARD Online, and Eckart Gaddum, head of new media at ZDF, told German news agency epd.
If viewers are, for example, looking for an episode of ARD’s crime series Tatort on ZDF’s catch-up portal, they will be offered a link to ARD’s catch-up service. Furthermore, the live-streams of ARD’s and ZDF’s main channels will become available on both services.
As the next step, a joint login function is planned for both catch-up portals, enabling users to personalise the services though a single account.
In March 2019, Dr Thomas Bellut, general director of ZDF, called for cross-linking the content of catch-up and on-demand services.
