ZDF Study Proposes Open Source and Free Licensing for Digital Future
On april 2025 calendar 11, 2025, the Supervisory Board of ZDF, Germany's nationwide broadcaster, published an interdisciplinary study on the digital future of public service media. The report, titled 'Infrastructural Digital Public Value of ZDF', explores the potential of free licensing of content and open-source disclosure.
The study, led by a team of professors from universities in Dortmund, Berlin, and Erfurt, examines the economic and legal framework conditions for ZDF's digital transformation. It presents development paths for the free licensing of ZDF content and the disclosure of source codes as open source. This would enable network partnerships on a fact-based, democratically oriented common basis, even under today's platform-economically shaped digital network conditions.
ZDF Director General Dr. Norbert Himmler confirmed the study's findings and highlighted ZDF's initiatives to create protected communication spaces and societal discourse in the digital space. The chairwoman of the ZDF Supervisory Board, Minister President a.D. Malu Dreyer, welcomed the study and emphasized the need for partnerships to develop clout against profit-maximizing platforms.
The study, released on april 2025 calendar 11, 2025, also highlights the urgent need for substantial investments in digital infrastructure. This includes enhanced broadband networks, advanced 5G/6G rollout, and increased funding for cybersecurity measures to ensure nationwide connectivity and digital security. ZDF, as a nationwide broadcaster, aims to lead the way in this digital transformation, fostering a robust and democratic digital public sphere.
