Wie funktioniert eine gute Zusammenarbeit von ARD und ZDF, Christine Strobl?

Not less, because we need every piece and every broadcast to entertain our viewers. But if I have to choose, I'd say it's not about making 40 reports on right-wing extremism, but about making the one relevant one. It's about penetrating this heterogeneous, opinion-diverse society with topics, and it's getting harder because there are more offerings. That's why I think it's important to bundle forces, focus, and try to make a big impact, and if necessary, leave something else aside.

Yes, in ARD we have the treasure of nine state broadcasters. They cover their regions and perspectives. I believe it's right that not everyone has to do everything; they can define their own priorities. That's what I want to discuss: to free ourselves from the compulsion to be active in all topic areas, and say one does this, another does that more strongly.

That's why I rely on doing it together. I want to listen carefully to see where the houses see their priorities. Some focus more on the mediathek, others on film, others on initiatives. It's about more impact and relevance. They are all well positioned, but I want us to recognize where each is stronger and network more, learn from each other. Not every treasure has been uncovered yet.

Das Erste is a program with important linear content, but I look at the whole ARD family: the ARD Mediathek, specialty channels. We do a lot together with ZDF, and that's good. But I believe the dual system is important. We have a history and it's served us well for opinion diversity and competition. I'm in favor of doing more together, like in sports and the morning magazine. But Germany has benefited from having ZDF and ARD side by side—ARD with its regional anchoring. That brings opinion diversity and competition, and does Germany a lot of good.

From the user perspective, a common technological platform that enables a barrier-free user journey makes a lot of sense. Given international competition, we need to bundle forces. We already have ARTE content in the ARD Mediathek, jointly financed and editorialized by ARD and ZDF. That shows community. But I see it more in technological cooperation. It's important that the offerings remain clearly separate to preserve opinion diversity, perhaps even expand it.

The separation between ARD and ZDF is necessary and historically justified. Other countries envy our stable public broadcasting system. Preserving it requires competition and opinion diversity. The boundary for me is mixing with ZDF. Those brands are treasures; they stand for different things.

We can't spend money twice. We have to manage the digital transformation with the same budget. Usage behavior among younger groups has changed rapidly. We can't just broadcast as before; we have to be where users are. The mediathek is a wonderful opportunity to address people in a target group-oriented way. But that requires independent program offerings, not just the same as before. We need new series like 'All You Need' to reach those we no longer reach otherwise. It's possible that mediathek content feeds back into linear. The challenge is to do this with the same resources, so some things will have to be reduced. But we get a lot back, as 'funk' brought many new talents to the main program.

In the case of 'Babylon Berlin', it was a special situation, financing nearly 50% internationally. That requires excellence and risk appetite. In the future, we might enter into international financing again to attract money for productions from Germany. But that doesn't rule out unusual partnerships. It's important we never lose sight of telling our story about Germany and Europe to the world.

Excellence is needed to stand out. But it must also be in the regular program: factual accuracy, objectivity, neutrality, taking people seriously. In children's programs, excellence means making children laugh or taking them on a knowledge journey. That's just as excellent as 'Babylon Berlin'. Excellence is not always about expensive programs. When we showed a theater piece in prime time, it required more cameras and actors who can speak long texts. So excellence can mean many things. It comes down to courage, but I'm cautious with that word. Courage is being journalistic in Belarus. Opening the main program is at least less boring. We must create reliability in linear television, but also be ready to break the pattern when something important happens. As for trying things out, I prefer to try things that work, but if convinced, one must try.

I have a passion for the Kinderkanal in Erfurt. During Corona, we offered children educational content. As for animation for adults, it is unloved in Germany. It requires a lot of financial effort to compete with big American players. I'm cautious about making too much hope. I'm not sure we will succeed broadly. I'd be happy with a one-off cinematic success to prove it's possible, but it takes a lot of money and is unpracticed. Regarding buying Asian series, much has happened to strengthen German production, but money is limited. Animation is extremely expensive. I myself brought 'Tigerentenbande' on its way, so I know the effort. It has to be financially viable.

No. Older people have a very high affinity to our programs, and they also increasingly use the mediathek via the red button. We need to address younger groups who will not be reached with linear television. That's our task: to be on demand and where people are, whether via app, mediathek, or social media.