Dhe director of the Südwestrundfunk (SWR) and future ARD chairman, Kai Gniffke, is in favor of working together much more closely than before on the third television programs of the ARD stations. In an interview with the newspapers of the Rhein-Main VRM publishing group, Gniffke also did not rule out the possibility that the third programs could have a uniform cover program and would no longer be broadcast completely separately from one another.
The highest possible regional share of the third programs must continue to be in the foreground in the future. But that doesn’t rule out organizing a joint overarching program: “That’s an idea that we should be discussing in the coming months and years. In any case, I can well imagine that,” said Gniffke.
When asked whether ARD, ZDF and Deutschlandfunk would have to make do with 8.4 billion euros in annual contributions in the future, Gniffke said that the broadcasters had to operate efficiently. However, they are exposed to the same cost increases as all companies and citizens: “We have to fulfill the tasks that the state treaties give us.” However, increases in contributions are currently not on the agenda.
Gniffke is to be elected chairman of the ARD on Wednesday. He is scheduled to take office on January 1, 2023. Until then, the WDR director Tom Buhrow will temporarily be the head of the ARD. Buhrow took over the chair at the beginning of August after the ARD directors had made it clear to the former RBB director Patricia Schlesinger, who had since been fired without notice, that she would have to resign as ARD chairwoman.
VRM includes the Allgemeine Zeitung Mainz, the Wiesbadener Kurier, the Darmstädter Echo and the Wetzlarer Neue Zeitung.
