Sun 5 Mar 2006
From a friend in Tulsa Oklahoma I heard: “In Germany only three TV channels are broadcasted, so they can’t be informed, whats up in the world.
Are all Americans this stupid, or is this a Oklahoma hillbilly thing? How it comes, that a nation where most people do not differ between Australia and Austria judge a other nations knowledge?
Fact is, we have around 40 free TV channels, 4 news channels, at least 90 pay-TV-channels including porn TV. Even channels like CNN and El Dschasira are broadcasted in Germany.
As you see, even if a nation has 200 TV channels, it doesn’t mean people are informed about the world.
March 11th, 2006 at 12:25 pm
What’s with the attitude? Are you trying to inform others or to do something very German: “Die Belehrung anderer, weil andere sind immer Dümmer als ein selber.” See, I’m German in this aspect, too. I’m belehring you :-)
March 11th, 2006 at 12:54 pm
“belehren” is translated “to instruct” … as far as I know with my poor English. So translation of whole sentence is something like “To instruct others, because others are allways more stupid then yourself”.
Sure, also to have only 130 TV-Channels does not mean, that you are informed about the world. To ansewer a question: I think Dago informed and also gave his two cents. I do not see any instruction …
April 21st, 2006 at 2:42 pm
3 TV-Channels….
On the one hand yes,
on the other hand no!!!
If you receive TV over analog terestrical antenna you might only receive 3 channels.
But if you us Satelite or Cable you get enough channels.
But for the reason the German analog-Tv-broadcasting is renewed and DVB-T,
so (terestrical digital TV) this prejudice is going to be totally false.
mfg
Robert
Aachen, Germany.
July 15th, 2006 at 11:00 pm
I lived in Germany for awhile when I was younger. Because the building we lived in had no cable installed and we were not allowed to have a satellite dish affixed to the balcony or windows outside, we only really got three channels - ARD, ZDF, a third I forget about, and on occasion (if the weather was just right) a fourth channel.
So I would wager the guess that some Germans really do only get three of four channels of television, and those who have no Internet are hard pressed of getting additional information on subjects aside from what the main stations present.
August 12th, 2006 at 6:12 pm
I know a little late, but anybody reading papers out there?
January 9th, 2007 at 11:41 pm
so i realize this is an old topic… but you can’t have hillbillies in oklahoma. we don’t have hills to speak of. hillbillies are more likely to be seen in the appalachian mountains.
(a mountain range in E. North America, extending from S. Quebec province to N. Alabama. Highest peak, Mt. Mitchell, 6684 ft., from dictionary.com)
what we have in oklahoma are ‘red necks.’ they are essentially the same thing but a misnomer none-the-less.
January 20th, 2007 at 5:22 pm
A quick google search produced the following: “Radio Hamburg startete 1986 als erster Privatsender in der Hansestadt.” What does this tell us? It tells us that a major German city had nothing but state-controlled television until the mid 1980’s. Now I’m quite sure it was like that in all cities, as several German friends have told me. Maybe you don’t remember because you’re only fourteen? Since you’re writing about the “true Germany” here, why don’t you talk about the Germans and their inferiority complex (”Are all Americans this stupid, or is this a Oklahoma hillbilly thing?”) when it comes to America. Furthermore, your blog is not funny, although I suspect you intended it to be. It just comes across as rude and oberlehrerhaft, as mentioned above….was auch wieder typisch Deutsch ist. :)
January 20th, 2007 at 5:46 pm
@Trobert - thanks for showing us, that typisch Deutsch (”rude and oberlehrerhaft”) seem to be copied even in other parts of the world. But thanks for the hints - we’ll follow it up…
March 2nd, 2007 at 9:18 am
Being a redneck or a hillbilly…
Doesn’t mean a person is uninformed,stupid,or that they have sex with family members….They’re mostly good hearted,hardworking people.How can someone who wants people to know fact from myth on one topic…be just as foolish as the people you want to “set straight”.
March 24th, 2007 at 6:27 am
Don’t lump me in with people from Oklahoma.
March 24th, 2007 at 12:49 pm
You probably shouldn’t insult your readers like that, especially if you’re not totally sure of what you are talking about. For a long time Germany DID only have three TV stations, and they were State controlled. Therefore, the German people were in fact uninformed. This, of course was not the German peoples fault, it was simply a result of a lack of media in the country. So, even though this prejudice may be held over from many years ago, it is not without its merit.
April 2nd, 2007 at 4:34 am
German TV is very odd. For example, people have to pay for Public TV. And it’s true, Germany only has 3 TV networks: ARD, ZDF and WDR. I mean free-to-air. Channels like Sat1, Pro7 and RTL are cable channels, so you have to pay to see them.
June 27th, 2007 at 12:22 am
first thing:
the “three tv channels” you are talking about are NOT state controlled. actually the purpose of the “öffentlich rechtliche” (public) broadcasting services is a de-centralized and independent broadcasting system. it’ basis was installed by the allies after WW II.
all services are governed by councils of representatives of the “societally relevant groups” ( politcal parties - government AND opposition, labor unions, social associations, churches and many more)!
they are financed by a small fee everybody who operates a tv or radio (or has a internet connection) has to pay!
second thing:
you don’t have to pay to see the other channels! you have to pay the company that operates and provides the cable connection. you can recieve every channel totally free over satellite!!!
August 17th, 2007 at 11:29 pm
ARD, ZDF, WDR, MDR, NDR, 3Sat… and there are many more free channels in Germany.
That might be a low number of channels, but the quality is important, not the number. and the quality of these free channels is fine.
The channels you have to pay for are cheap at all but they are more commercial and not fixed on information.
Grüße aus Deutschland, Dortmund
June 20th, 2008 at 6:02 pm
Nah thats not true.
The mentiond channels (ARD, ZDF and so on) are part of the so called “öffentlich-rechtliches fernsehen”.
For this channels you pay taxes and if you are interested in news you should watch them.
Because you pay taxes to watch them, you got no advertisement at all on this channels.
The other channels, the more entertaining ones (Pro7, Sat1 and MANY others) are completly free, but you got ads every 15 minutes or so.
October 14th, 2010 at 2:46 am
You probably shouldn’t insult your readers like that, especially if you’re not totally sure of what you are talking about. For a long time Germany DID only have three TV stations, and they were State controlled. Therefore, the German people were in fact uninformed. This, of course was not the German peoples fault, it was simply a result of a lack of media in the country. So, even though this prejudice may be held over from many years ago, it is not without its merit.
September 11th, 2011 at 6:49 pm
having “only” 3 tv channels doesnt necessarily mean the population is uninformed, it depends on the quality, not the quantity. and the quality of those channels is just fine, emphasis is put on news and documentaries and “serious” broadcasts. Besides, there is such a thing as radio and a fair amount of papers and magazines, covering the news from all possible angles. trust me, nobody in germany has to suffer from lack of information. also, none of these channels are state-controlled in the sense that there is only the governments opinion or propaganda on it, germany’s media are watched VERY closely for any kind of censorship etc., what with learning from past mistakes and everything. It is true, that when you dont get your tv over satellite or cable, you have only limited acces, but that still means 7 channels, which include both, info and entertainment, but tbqh, nowadays the percentage of households in germany that dont have cable or satelitte or internet acces is negligible. and personally, I dont see the need for 200+ channels, honestly…
June 22nd, 2012 at 2:19 pm
LoL
Sorry. Sometimes it’s nice to see how “German irony” completely fails in other parts of the world.
Facts:
There are at least 60 free TV channels and - some pay tv-chnls (i don’t need it, so no idea).
Free channels
1. öffentlich-rechtlich (public) (compare to BBC)
a) ARD, ZDF
b) lots of regional channels belonging to ARD (BR, SR, SWR, HR, WDR, NDR, MDR etc.)
c) special interest programs of ARD & ZDF, like ZDF info, ZDF neo, Arte, Kika (for children) and so. on
These channels are paid by a kind of tax that many people condemn.
But: they provide a very high degree and quality in information and culture with a very few commercial spots (ex: no adverts in child’s channel Kika) – impossible for a purely private and commercial channels.
2. private (since 1984/85)
RTL, SAT1, RTL2, PRO7, Kabel 1, Tele 5, Viva, Vox, NTV, N24…
More commercial spots, bad and rather entertaining news on often yellow-press-level.
August 3rd, 2013 at 4:13 pm
My mother can be quite prejudiced about Germans. We all have some prejudice but I tend to only have the occasional anti-American thought because the people are fine but the whole world shouldn’t have to put up with it’s media.
I’m mainly into Japan and mum says Japanese TV is bad, like a lot of other British people sadly do. I suppose the older generation generally is more prejudiced. I think it’s ridiculous to say a certain country’s TV is bad. We’re all the human race. We all have the same creativity and ideas.
January 6th, 2017 at 11:10 am
It depends on your technical setup. Cable networks provide lots of channels. With satellite equipment you can get even more. Most people in Germany use cable or satellite. An alternative can be internet television.
There are about 40 free domestic channels (shopping channels etc. not counted), plus numerous foreign channels. And many pay-tv channels.
When receiving television by arial antenna the figure differs. In the past there were in fact three channels only, in certain regions. The transition to digital transmission changed this situation. But compared to cable and satellite it’s still worse. And it greatly depends on region. Minimum is about 12 channels. Maximum is 40 channels or more, in large cities.
September 21st, 2017 at 10:10 pm
“Are all Americans this stupid, or is this a Oklahoma hillbilly thing? How it comes, that a nation where most people do not differ between Australia and Austria judge a other nations knowledge?”
Okay, with that, now you’re trying to judge another nation’s knowledge from your experience with that Oklahoma guy? Dude, what gives?
I’m an American, and I never had this notion of Germany having only three TV channels. No-one I know of ever had this notion either. I won’t deny, however, that there are some people who think this way.
You know, Fritz, some of the comments in this page are right; maybe you shouldn’t insult your readers this way. Especially since one of your site’s pages has over 600 comments, most of which consist of malicious, hypocritical insults against Germans (making the same exact mistake you’re making.)
I know you’re trying to dispel myths about Germany, but to use generalisations about other countries, not to mention provocative clickbait titles, is not the way to do it.
In fact, since no more articles are being posted, why don’t you shut this website down already, let alone close the comments section to your “Rude and oberlehrerhaft” article?