One of my top ten German peeves (everyone is allowed peeves)....is that from around early June to mid-August....the TV networks all go to what I'd refer to as 'austerity TV'. Basically, you get ten weeks of reruns and sports-related shows. It doesn't matter if you are talking about public TV (via the tax) or commercial TV.
There are three reasons normally given by Germans for this:
1. Most Germans are on vacation during this period (usually two to three weeks) and not watching TV.
2. The Germans who aren't on vacation....are sitting in beer-gardens or on the patio....sipping beer.
3. There's just x-amount of money for producing TV shows and movies....which are geared toward roughly nine months out of the year.
One of the odd features of this period is usually Sunday nights at 9:45 PM on ARD.....public TV, Channel One....where they do go over to a non-repeat movie, but it's usually a Danish or Swedish cop-murder thriller (by Danish standards).
All of this helping Netflix and Amazon? Well, some might suggest that this is a great alternate form of entertainment during the austerity season.
So if you are associating with Germans and wanting to find a period when they are generally available and looking for something to do.....this June to August period is perfect.
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