Heute


heute is a television news program on the German channel ZDF. The main program is broadcast at 19:00, and includes news, with an emphasis on political news from Germany, Europe and the world, plus 'mixed' news from cultural life or entertainment, and the sports news with an extra presenter. The weather forecast comes up about 19:22 after a break with commercials. The opening sequence of each broadcast features an analogue clock, a signature element of the program.
The newscast heute of ZDF and the 20:00-Tagesschau of ARD/Das Erste are the main broadcasts of German public TV starting the evening programme. Advertisements can not be shown on public television in Germany after 8:00 pm.

History

The first heute broadcast took place on 1 April 1963, the day ZDF itself started broadcasting.
heute was originally broadcast from 19:30 to 20:00 CET; on 1 February 1965, the show was split into two parts - heute and themen des tages . From 1 January 1969 the themen des tages was dropped so the evening programs could start earlier. In 1971, Wibke Bruhns was the first female presenter.
In 1973, its airtime was moved to 19:00, where it remains today.
Since 2014, the main presenters of the 7pm broadcast have been Petra Gerster and Christian Sievers, who alternate weekly; Barbara Hahlweg acts as a stand-in if neither Gerster or Sievers are available.

Present-day

The main program usually has a length of 20 minutes. It is also broadcast on 3sat. Around 21:45 CET, a longer, more in-depth show called heute-journal is broadcast, which is similar to Tagesthemen airing on Das Erste alongside the Tagesschau.

Identity

For most of its run, the program's title music was preceded by the letters h-e-u-t-e in morse code. In 1998, this was integrated with the title music, and the dots and dashes are no longer distinguishable.
On 17 July 2009, a new virtual studio debuted, featuring redesigned graphics and the integration of the title sequence to the studio in most editions.

Presenters

7pm edition
PresenterYearsRole
Petra Gerster1998–presentMain presenter
Christian Sievers2014–presentMain presenter
Barbara Hahlweg2007–presentRelief presenter

Sports news
PresenterYears
Norbert König1987–present
Kristin Otto1995–present
Rudi Cerne1996–present
Sven Voss2007–present
Katja Streso2010–present
Alexander Ruda2014–present