I looked over this afternoon at FUNK-TV (my German public TV option that you can't get via the satellite or antenna or cable). It's a data-streaming network that the ZDF public TV folks had to invent to satisfy the political folks that they were producing something that the 15-to-25 year old audience would view. You can download an app for your TAB or smart-phone, and watch the network over your internet application.
What's offered? Well....it's been up for roughly fifteen months.
1. Films. About 90-percent of what's listed is criminal, mystery, thriller or murder type movies....the same stuff that you'd find with the ZDF or ARD network. Science Fiction? None.
2. Comedy. NEO Magazine Royale is their top offering....a satire show which is mostly made for the other network NEO. Sketch History is listed....mostly taking historical notes and blending a bit of humor into them....to tell some point of history. Bares for Rares shows up....although it's made for another network. Bares for Rares is a antique show, which you know.....German teens are exceptionally interested in antiques (sarcastically said of course). There's a couple of cooking shows listed, which also draw a LOT of German teen interest (sarcastically said of course).
3. Documentary Section. There's a number of documentary shows listed....mostly made for the other networks. One is the 10,000 kilometer four-hour piece done with a couple of adults in some car and driving across Russia and doing mostly a travel essay (teens love that kind of stuff, you know). There's several animal documentary, relating to apes, dogs, dolphins, etc. There's a 43-minute piece on Germany's biggest disco. Oh, there's also a 43-minute piece on 'blackout' (what would happen if Germany had no electricity....something that teens often sit and ponder about). There's also a whole group of documentary pieces on the evils of food and how the grocery folks openly lie to you (something that kids often wonder about).
4. Culture section. They list out a couple of dozen 'unplugged' sessions with various German singers and groups. This actually might be the one plus of the network that teens might agree with.
5. Story section. It's basically a collection of documentary pieces that often relate to art, music, history, and tell a story by some German PhD guy. If you were an intellectual kid, you might appreciate some of the offerings.
6. Political section. There are probably sixty downloadable pieces here. Interviews, public forums, journalist pieces. If you were a young guy with political interest....it might occasionally draw your interest. The other ninety-percent of the youth population? Zero interest. Fifteen year old kids just aren't hyped about politics.
7. Consumer section. Their chief offering was a news piece on hazelnut chocolate (nine minutes long). Kids wonder about stuff like that.
My son (27 years old, and German) noted about ten years ago that the public TV offerings in Germany were worthless. He refused to watch anything they offered. Over the past decade, he's marginally used German commercial TV, and gone heavily toward data-streaming option (note, that's Amazon and Netflix, NOT FUNK). His humble opinion is that about 70-percent of the 15-to-25 year old group have given up on public TV and won't be going back. This leads onto a bad scenario in another decade as they insist on dumping the media tax.
So this effort by ZDF to regain an audience? I look at what's listed and ask three simple questions: (1) Since the big drawing card for the commercial data-streaming networks is science fiction....why can't FUNK produce anything in that category? (2) Since the majority of what's seen on FUNK is already packaged for the other adult networks....why bother trying to pretend that the younger folks will watch it? (3) Who is exactly running this network and are they actually talking to the audience?
If you were interested? Here's the site....it's free to watch.
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