ARD and ZDF want to work together. The two German broadcasting centers want to merge their streaming media libraries and develop a common “streaming OS” for this purpose.
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There have been repeated plans to merge the ARD and ZDF media libraries in the past. Now the project should be put into action. The public broadcasters ARD and ZDF want to technically merge their online media libraries. On Monday, the broadcasters announced that they were planning to develop a common “streaming OS”. An open source code that will then be made publicly available in the future as part of “one of the largest open source initiatives in Germany”. In addition, other companies should also be able to benefit from the project, said ARD chairman Kai Gniffke. Gniffke explained that other institutions, including media companies that compete with ARD and ZDF, could use the software. The initiative could therefore be viewed as a starting point for a large German-language platform.
ARD and ZDF are working together
Through this initiative, the broadcasters also want to standardize the management of user data. The common streaming software should include various elements such as the streaming player, login system, recommendations and design. In this way, ARD and ZDF are creating a uniform technical basis for their online media libraries, which have already grown together in terms of content.
Educational institutions should also benefit from the open source offering. ZDF director Norbert Himmler explains: “In this way we are giving something back to society that they paid us for.” According to a statement, collaboration with European partners is also being considered. The next step will be a shared office for the streaming OS. The technical development of the operating system will take place in a commercial subsidiary managed by ARD. Broadcasters hope the streaming operating system will be ready for use in spring 2025.