ORF (broadcaster)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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| Country |  Austria (Germany, Switzerland) |
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| Key people | Alexander Wrabetz |
| Launch date | August 1, 1955 |
| Website orf.at |
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ORF (Österreichischer Rundfunk, "Austrian Broadcasting") is the Austrian national public service broadcaster. Funded from a combination of a television licence fees and revenue from limited on-air advertising, ORF is the dominant player in the Austrian broadcast media.[1] Austria was the last country in Europe after Albania to allow national private television.
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[edit] History of broadcasting in Austria
The first test transmissions in Austria were made in 1923 by Radio Hekaphon, run by a technical school in Vienna. It was, however, the publicly owned RAVAG – Radio-Verkehrs-Aktiengesellschaft, "Radio Communication Company Ltd" – which, in February 1924, was awarded the concession to begin broadcasting, with the radio pioneer and enthusiast Oskar Czeja as its Director-General. Regular transmissions began on 1 October 1924 from studios inside the Ministry of Armed Forces building that were to become known as "Radio Wien". By the end of October 1924 the station already had 30,000 listeners, and by January 1925 100,000. Relay transmitters, established across the country by 1934, ensured that all Austrians could listen to Radio Wien.
With the Anschluss in 1938, RAVAG was eliminated and Radio Wien was made subordinate to the Reichsrundfunk in Berlin. Following Germany's defeat in 1945, independent Austrian radio broadcasting was re-established, and a new "Radio Wien" was founded, once again under Oskar Czeijas. A number of other radio stations began broadcasting in the different occupation zones and radio become a popular medium among Austrians: in 1952 there were 1.5 million radio sets in Austrian homes. In 1955 the various regional stations were brought together as the Österreichisches Rundspruchwesen ("Austrian Broadcasting Entity") which later, in 1958, became the Österreichischer Rundfunk GmbH, forerunner of today's ORF.
[edit] Radio channels
- Ö1 - ORF's cultural and principal news channel
- Hitradio Ö3 - pop music channel
- FM4 - channel for (alternative) youth culture
- The former Ö2 has been replaced by nine regional channels (one for each Bundesland):
- Radio Burgenland
- Radio Kärnten
- Radio Niederösterreich
- Radio Oberösterreich
- Radio Salzburg
- Radio Steiermark
- Radio Tirol
- Radio Vorarlberg
- Radio Wien
All of these radio channels are broadcast terrestrially on FM and via the digital service of the Astra satellite system.
An additional service, Radio 1476, is broadcast on medium-wave in the evenings between 18.00 and just after midnight. Its schedule is a mixture of items from Ö1, programmes for linguistic and cultural minorities, folk music, and special productions.
All of ORF's domestic radio channels are also streamed over the internet. An extra 24-hour all-news channel is available exclusively via internet: this is Ö1-Inforadio which relays all of Ö1's news content and fills the "gaps", during which Ö1 is transmitting music and cultural programmes, with additional news broadcasts.
A version of Ö1 is broadcast internationally via short wave (and satellite in Europe} as Radio Österreich 1 International. Its schedule includes a small number of programmes in English and Spanish.
[edit] Television channels
ORF Sport Plus and 3sat are transmitted in the capital cities only.
Only DVB-S and cable
- TW1 (sharing frequency with ORF Sport Plus, not available on terrestrial television)
- ORF2 Europe (unencrypted channel for all Europe)
The ORF television channels are broadcast terrestrially and via the Astra satellite system. Via satellite ORF1 and ORF2 are encrypted allowing only Austrian citizens who pay the Austrian television licence (Gebühren Info Service, "GIS") to watch them. TW1, ORF Sport Plus and ORF2 Europe are unencrypted and receivable via satellite in Europe.
[edit] External links
- Official Site
- Ö1 International Information about international broadcasts of Ö1 with additional programs.
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