Television Archive

In 2006, Deutsche Kinemathek set itself the mission of educating a broad audience on the history of German television. The Television collection has thus been curated to feature selected broadcasts from the start of terrestrial transmission in 1952 to today, all for viewing at the Mediathek Fernsehen. The programs were recorded with the permission of the broadcaster from the original live broadcast or else drawn from program archives. The collection is constantly expanding.

There are currently more than 12,000 broadcasts spanning seven decades from broadcasters licensed in Germany and the two former nations of divided Germany. They are available for viewing in full length at the Mediathek's viewing stations and the library's viewing area. The collection is cataloged in a database that can be searched using touchscreen navigation and which contains extensive background information.

We have also established special collections for certain focal topics; this allows for specific broadcasts to be selected for their match with relevant criteria as well as the viewing of individual films, reports and shows in their entirety.