On January 7th, 2025, Germany's public broadcaster ARD discontinued SD satellite transmissions of its main channel, Das Erste, and all regional channels via Astra (19.2° East). This decision, announced in September 2023, concludes 14 years of parallel SD and HD broadcasts. The channels remain available in HD quality.
This shift affects cable providers as well; market leader Vodafone Deutschland, among others, now exclusively distributes ARD channels in HD. The rationale behind the switch-off is the years-long decline in SD viewership, with only a small percentage of German households relying solely on SD. This move allows ARD to cut programme distribution costs and ensure efficient use of public TV license fees.
Until January 30th, 2025, viewers who haven't transitioned to HD will see an on-screen message explaining the change on former SD channel slots. Further information is available online at www.ard-digital.de/sd. A similar move is planned by fellow public broadcaster ZDF, which will cease SD satellite transmission of its main channel and thematic channels (ZDFinfo, ZDFneo, 3sat, and KiKA) via Astra on November 18th, 2025.
However, commercial broadcasters like RTL Deutschland and ProSiebenSat.1 intend to maintain SD distribution. Unlike their public counterparts, their HD channels are encrypted and part of the subscription-based HD+ platform on Astra, also requiring extra fees on most cable networks. Discontinuing SD would result in viewer and, consequently, advertising revenue losses.