What is available and where to watch German TV in the USA?
One of the things that always seems to be a bit difficult is how to watch German TV in the US. It should be much easier to find German TV, movies, and shows. If you are lucky your cable or satellite provider offers it for an up-charge. It seems that across America there is a fairly good demand but on a local level, it probably is not enough to offer a free over the air service that can sustain itself through advertisement as the Spanish or Mandarin language channels do. As a matter of fact, the only one I could ever find free over the air was Deutsch Welle in the Seattle area. At this point, they offer some of their shows on PBS and this may be available in your area as well (DW).
Over the years I have found many ways to get German TV. However, most had a price tag attached and the ones that were free ended up needing a certain level of technical know-how to make it work and most people are not interested at that point. Lately, it has gotten much better and with just a few clicks or with a basic smart TV we can pretty much get anything we want with little to no effort.
Let’s start with the free options where to watch German TV and work our way to the “pay to view” options.
Most German TV stations offer some form of online content. In fact, some even offer a live stream of their program. One of the biggest problems with these offers is that they will block certain content due to some of the strict laws that govern content in Germany. Since it is free it’s something most of us can live with. Below is a list of the German TV stations that I have found with links to their streaming content. In case a link is not working, try to go to the main page and look for their online content. Some of these providers change their web addresses from time to time but this content is usually labeled Mediathek or Live. You are welcome to email us at [email protected] with any broken links and we will fix them as soon as possible.
TV Channels Online for Free:
| Channel | Link | Availability |
| Das Erste | Das Erste | Live & On Demand |
| ARD | ARD | Live & On Demand |
| ZDF | ZDF | Live & On Demand |
| Arte | Arte | Live & On Demand |
| Welt | Weld.de | Live & On Demand |
| 3Sat | 3sat | Live & On Demand |
| My Spass | My Spass | Live & On Demand |
| DW | DW | Live & On Demand |
Location Specific | ||
| BR | BR/Bayerischer Rundfunk | Live & On Demand |
| MDR | MDR/Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk | Live & On Demand |
| NDR | NDR/Norddeutscher Rundfunk | Live & On Demand |
| RBB | RBB/Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg | Live & On Demand |
| SR | SR/Saarländischer Rundfunk | Live & On Demand |
| SWR | SWR/Südwestrundfunk | Live & On Demand |
| WDR | WDR/Westdeutscher Rundfunk | Live & On Demand |
| HR | HR/Hessischer Rundfunk | Live & On Demand |
| Dresden Fernsehen | Dresden Fernsehen Dresden | Live & On Demand |
| Chemnitz Fernsehen | Chemnitz Fernsehen | Live & On Demand |
| Elbekanal Schoenbeck | Elbekanal Schönbeck | Live & On Demand |
| münchen.tv-Livestream | Muenchen TV | Live |
| münchen.tv-Mediathek | Muenchen TV | On Demand |
| Jena TV | Jena TV | Live & On Demand |
| Kiel TV | Kiel TV | Live & On Demand |
| Kultur MD | Sachsen Anhalt | Live & On Demand |
| Leipzig Fernsehen | Leipzig Fernsehen | Live & On Demand |
| LTV | LTV Ludwigsburg | Live & On Demand |
| Oeins | Oeins Oldenburg | Live & On Demand |
| Offner Kanal | Offner Kanal Madgeburg | Live & On Demand |
| RegioTV Stuttgart | RegioTV Stuttgart | Live & On Demand |
| RegioTV Schwaben | RegioTV Schwaben | Live & On Demand |
| RegioTV Bodensee | RegioTV Bodensee | Live & On Demand |
| Rheinmain TV | Rheinmain TV Rheinmain | Live & On Demand |
| Sachsen Fernsehen | Sachsen Fernsehen | Live & On Demand |
| TRP1 | TRP1 Passau | Live & On Demand |
| TV Berlin | TV Berlin | Live & On Demand |
| TVA | TVA Regensburg | Live & On Demand |
| TVO | TVO Oberfranken | Live & On Demand |
| FS1 | FS1, Austria | Live & On Demand |
| ORF | ORF | Live & On Demand |
| KIKA | KIKA | On Demand |
