German public broadcaster ZDF will cease the SD satellite transmission of ZDF, ZDFinfo, ZDFneo, 3sat and KiKA via Astra (19.2° East) on 18 November 2025.
The channels can then only be received in HD resolution on Astra. For around 15 years, the channels were broadcast in both SD and HD.
Almost all households in Germany now receive their programmes in HD resolution, and TV reception in the lower SD quality is hardly used any more, explained ZDF. By discontinuing SD broadcasting, the broadcaster is also reducing its distribution costs and thus fulfilling the expectation of economical use of the TV licence fee.
ZDF is switching off its SD channels on Astra later than fellow public broadcaster ARD, which will make the move on 7 January 2025. ARTE, Phoenix, tagesschau24 and One commenced the public broadcasters’ exit from SD on 15 November 2022 and ended their SD distribution on Astra.
