ORF (broadcaster)

Österreichischer Rundfunk

File:ORF.gif
Type	Broadcast television network
Country	Austria
Key people	Monika Lindner Alexander Wrabetz (from Jan 1, 2007)
Launch date	August 1, 1955
Official website	orf.at

ORF (Österreichischer Rundfunk, literally "Austrian Broadcasting") is the national Austrian public service broadcaster. The ORF dominates Austrian media. Austria was the last country in Europe after Albania to allow national private television. ORF is funded from a combination of a television licence and commercials [1].

ORF broadcasts its primetime news on both TV channels at the same time, reaching a market penetration of two thirds. ORF is member of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU).

History

The first Austrian test transmissions were done in 1923 by Radio Hekaphon, run by a technical school in Vienna. But it was the publicly run RAVAG (Radio-Verkehrs-Aktiengesellschaft - Radio Traffic Company) which, in February 1924, was awarded the concession to start broadcasts, with the enthusiast and initiator Oskar Czeja as Director-general. Regular transmissions began on 1 October 1924 from offices in the Army Ministry, and the studios became known as Radio Wien. Already by the end of October they had 30,000 listeners, and by January 1925 100,000. By 1934 re-transmitters across the country ensured that all Austrians could listen to Radio Wien.

With the Anschluss in 1938, RAVAG was eliminated and Radio Wien was made subordinate to Reichsrundfunk in Berlin. After Germany's defeat, radio broadcasts were again started up by Oskar Czeijas, who restarted "Radio Wien". Other radio stations broadcast erratically. Yet radio was becoming a popular medium among Austrians - in 1952 there were 1.5 million radios in Austrian homes. In 1953 FM broadcasts started up. Also around the same year, ORF started up, taking over most Austrian radio stations such as Radio Wien.

Radio channels

The ORF building in the fourth district of Vienna. Mainly radio programmes are broadcast from here.

• Ö1 - the ORF's cultural channel
• Hitradio Ö3 - the ORF's pop music channel.
• FM4 - the ORF's channel for (alternative) youth culture
• The channel known as Ö2 has been replaced by nine regional channels (one for each bundesland)

The ORF radio channels are broadcast terrestrially and via the digital program of the Astra satellite system. ORF is also an international broadcaster, originally via shortwave.

Television channels

• ORF1
• ORF2 (with regional programs)
• ORF SPORT PLUS (ORF*)
• 3 Sat (in association with ARD, ZDF and SF DRS)
• TW1 (subsidiary company, uses the same frequence as ORF SPORT PLUS)

The ORF television channels are broadcast terrestrially and via the digital program of the Astra satellite system. Via satellite ORF1 and ORF2 are encrypted allowing only Austrian citizens who pay the Austrian broadcasting fee (GIS) to watch them. The ORF also offers an additional Free-To-Air (FTA) version of ORF2 called ORF 2 Europe.

External links

• Official Site
• Ö1 International Information about international broadcasts of Ö1 with additional programs.