ARD and ZDF are merging their media libraries into a common “streaming network”.

Anyone who uses the broadcasters' media libraries should in future automatically be able to see what can be seen in the other public service system.

A search function should be used to find all of the ARD and ZDF offers.

The network does not have its own name; access is via the existing media libraries.

The start date is today, Monday.

ARD chairman Tom Buhrow said on Monday morning at the press conference in Mainz, at which the project was presented, that a “common world of experience” will be created, a “universal” user experience.

The legal independence of the ARD and ZDF media libraries will be preserved, but the cooperation is a "giant quantum leap".

The “convincing”, added ZDF director Thomas Bellut, “is that it is so easy for users”.

You stay in the selected media library, you will find your way around like a dream, and you will be offered “the best of the public service system”.

That is a "small revolution".

The institutions involved preserved their identity, while the common system pays dividends for the individual houses.

The streaming network of ARD and ZDF will offer personalized access, the user guidance and recommendation culture based on what is known from streaming services.