Bayerischer Rundfunk
Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR) is the fourth largest of Germany's nine public broadcasters. It is mainly financed by the licence fee. In 2022, BR's budget totalled 1.167 billion euros. BR includes nine radio stations, two television stations and various online offerings.
The management of BR consists of the Director General and five directors. According to the Bavarian Broadcasting Act, the Director General is "responsible for the entire operation and programme design".
BR also has two central committees:
The Administrative Board consists of seven people: the current President of the Bavarian State Parliament, the President of the Administrative Court and five other members who are elected by the Broadcasting Council. In the event of parity, the vote of the Chairperson of the Board is decisive. This is currently Dr Ilse Aigner, member of the CSU and President of the Bavarian State Parliament.
The Broadcasting Council consists of 50 members. Twelve are members of the Bavarian State Parliament, one is delegated by the state government and alternating members (usually one or two) are delegated by various social groups, such as churches, trade unions, chambers of commerce, farmers' organisations, cultural associations, a representative of the Bavarian universities and the journalists' association. The Council is intended to represent society as a whole and thus ensure that the various interest groups are represented. The members of parliament are elected according to the number of seats held by the individual parties. The governing CSU party currently makes up the largest group with six members (five from parliament, one from the state government).
Business Form
public
Legal Form
Institution under public law (Anstalt des öffentlichen Rechts)
Individual Owner
Other TV Outlets
ARD Alpha (0.1%); BR Fernsehen (2.1%)
Other Radio Outlets
Bayern 1 (4.6%); Bayern 2 (0.7%); Bayern 3 (3.1%); BR Klassik (0.2%); BR24 (0.9%); BR Schlager (0.3%); Puls (MD); BR Klassik (0.2%); BR Heimat (0.2%)
Other Online Outlets
www.br.de (0.56%); www.bayern3.de (F.D);
www.br-klassik.de (MD);
www.br24.de (MD)
Media Business
Market Research
AGF Videoforschung GmbH (1.76%)
Financial Holding
Bavaria-Filmkunst GmbH (100%)
Film production
Bavaria Film GmbH (16.7%)
Advertising
BRmedia GmbH (100%)
ARD MEDIA GmbH (11.11%)
Software, data analysis
Public Value Technologies GmbH (50%)
Broadcasting technology
Bayerische Medien Technik GmbH (10%)
Digital infrastructure
Bayern Digital Radio GmbH (46%)
Film rights and marketing
Degeto GmbH (11.1%)
Sports broadcasting rights
SportA Sportrechte- und Marketing-Agentur (5.6%)
Seminars, training
ARD/ZDF-Medienakademie gGmbH (12.9%)
TV broadcasting
ARTE Deutschland TV GmbH (7.3%)
Archive work
German Broadcasting Archive Foundation (7.1%)
Film funding
FilmFernsehFonds Bayern GmbH (12%)
Event organisation
Internat. Münchner Filmwochen GmbH (10%)
Training
MEDIASCHOOL BAYERN gGmbH (2%)
Foundation work, children and youth education
Stiftung Prix Jeunesse (20%)
Foundation work, media skills
Stiftung Zuhören (23.6%)
Business
TV channel
ARTE (Via ARTE Deutschland GmbH)
General Information
Founding Year
1949
Affiliated Interests Founder
was elected in 1946 and consisted of 180 seats and four parties. With 104 seats, the Christian Social Union (CSU) had an absolute majority and governed with its own majority under Minister President Hans Ehard.
was the first chairman of the Bavarian Broadcasting Council. He had previously been a playwright and director general of the Bavarian State Theatre. From 1932, he was head theatre director at Munich Radio, which he left in 1935 after the National Socialists brought it into line. From 1945 to 1946, Lippl was editor-in-chief of the Münchner Kirchenzeitung.
was the first intendant of Bayerischer Rundfunk in 1949. As early as 1926, he took over the management of the ‘Current Affairs Department’ at BR's predecessor, but resigned in 1933 for reasons of conscience. During the National Socialist era, Scholtz worked as a translator. From 1945 to 1946, he was Lord Mayor of Passau. He was honoured with the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany for his commitment to independent broadcasting.
Employees
5,094 employees, of which 3,451 are permanent employees and 1,643 are freelancers (December 2023).
Contact
Bayerischer Rundfunk
Anstalt des öffentlichen Rechts
Rundfunkplatz 1
80335 München
Telefon: 089 / 59 00-01
Telefax: 089 / 59 00-18 59 00
Website: www.br.de
Tax/ ID Number
DE 129 523 494
Financial Information
Revenue (Financial Data/ Optional)
€ 1.167 Billion / USD 1.264 Billion (2022)
Operating Profit (in Mill. $)
€ 15 Million / USD 16.24 Million (2022)
Advertising (in % of total funding)
€ 28.4 Million / USD 30.75 Million (2022)
Management
Executive Board
has been the first female Director General of Bayerischer Rundfunk since 2020. She had previously been Programme Director of Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk (MDR) since 2019. Her candidacy was supported by a non-partisan group that included the Chairwoman of the BR Board of Directors, Dr Ilse Aigner (CSU). She has worked as a journalist and reporter since 1994. Wildermuth is a board member of the Akademie für Publizistik Hamburg and the EBU Documentary Group (European Broadcasting Group), an international association of public and private broadcasters.
Legal Directorate. Eva Majuntke has been Legal Counsel at BR since March 2022. She was Legal Counsel at WDR until 2017 before moving to BR and then to the Bavarian State Chancellery at the end of 2019, where she took over as Head of the Media Policy Department. She is currently also Chairwoman of the Board of the non-profit organisation Institut für Urheber- und Medienrecht.
Programme Directorate Culture. Björn Wilhelm has been Programme Director for Culture since March 2022. He is a trained lawyer and journalist and held a senior position at Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR) as Head of the Programme and Portfolio Management Department before taking office.
Programme Directorate Information. Thomas Hinrichs has been part of the BR management team as Programme Director Information since May 2014. He previously worked as a journalist for BR and ARD.
Administrative Directorate. Dr Albrecht Frenzl has been Administrative Director since January 2015 and additionally Deputy Director General of BR since March 2022. Frenzl has worked for several broadcasting organisations in the past, including SWR and the directorate of NDR. As a representative of BR, he is a member of the Supervisory Board of Bavaria Film GmbH.
Production/Technical Director. Birgit Spanner-Ulmer has been Director of Production and Technology since February 2012. From 2004 to 2012, she was Professor of Labour Science at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at Chemnitz University of Technology. At the same time as moving to BR, she was appointed to the professorship for Production and Technology in the media industry at the Technical University of Munich. She is on leave from TUM for the duration of her time as Director. At the same time, Spanner-Ulmer is a member of the Supervisory Board of Bavaria Film GmbH, the Future Council of the Bavarian Economy and a Senator of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft. From 2016 to 2023, she was also a member of the Supervisory Board of Salzgitter AG. She is married to Eckhard Ulmer, Chancellor of the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt.
Non-Executive Board
The Broadcasting Council consists of 50 members. Listed here are the chairperson, his/her deputy, the chairpersons of the committees and their deputies.
Chairman of the Broadcasting Council since 2022. At the same time, he took over the chairmanship of the supervisory board of BRmedia GmbH. Until 2018, Ruppert held the chair for religious education and didactics of religious education at the Otto-Friedrich University of Bamberg, of which he was president from 2007 to 2020. Since 2002, Ruppert has been the president of the Virtual University of Bavaria.
deputy chairperson since 2022. She is the president of the Bavarian Teachers' Association.
deputy chairperson of the Committee for Fundamental Issues and Media Policy and chairman of the Three-Step Test Commission. He was sent to the Broadcasting Council by the Protestant Church.
Chairman of the Program Committee. Fack has been a member of the Broadcasting Council since 2012. He was sent there by the Bavarian Youth Ring.
Deputy Chair of the Program Committee. Danziger is Chair of the Jewish Community of Regensburg.
Chairman of the Committee for Economics and Finance. He was sent to the committee by the Chambers of Industry and Commerce. From 2008 to 2018, Driessen was Managing Director of the Chamber of Industry and Commerce for Munich and Upper Bavaria and Managing Director of the Bavarian Association of Chambers of Industry and Commerce BIHK e.V.
Deputy Chair of the Committee for Economics and Finance. Schmöller was sent to the Broadcasting Council by the Bavarian State Sports Association.
Deputy Chairman of the Three-Step Test Commission. Stocker was sent to the Broadcasting Council by the Bavarian Association of Journalists. He works as a freelance writer and producer.
Supervisory Board
The Administrative Board consists of seven members:
President of the Bavarian State Parliament since 2018 and qua office Chairwoman of the BR Administrative Board. She is a member of the governing CSU party. Aigner also holds various board and trustee positions, for example as a member of the TUM University Council, board member of the Economic Advisory Council of the Union e. V. and Donum Vitae Bayern. She is chairwoman of the CSU district association for Upper Bavaria and has been a member of both the Bundestag and the federal government as Minister for Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection.
Deputy Chairman of the Administrative Board since 2010. He had previously been a full member of the Board since 2001. Klinger holds a doctorate in law and, before joining the Administrative Board, was Chairman of the Executive Board of Isar Amper Werke AG (now Bayernwerk AG) and a member of the Executive Board of the Federation of Employers' Associations in Bavaria. He is an honorary member of the German Association of Energy and Water Industries.
Member of the Administrative Board since 2022. Ammon's main profession is as a tax consultant and auditor. He is Managing Director of iovos GmbH and iovos consult GmbH. He is also an honorary president of the Bavarian State Sports Association (BLSV). Like Aigner, he is also a member of the board of Donum Vitae Bayern.
Member of the BR Board of Directors since May 2016. Together with her husband, she runs an architecture firm in Nuremberg. Baumgartner had been a member of the BR Broadcasting Council since 2002 before moving to the Administrative Board. She was delegated to this body by the Association of Liberal Professions. Baumgartner is a former board member of the Bavarian Chamber of Architects and chairs the Administrative Board's Building Committee.
Lawyer and President of the Bavarian Administrative Court since January 2023 and as such a member of the Administrative Board of the BR by virtue of her office. From 1996 to 1998, Breit was a consultant at the State Ministry of the Interior, from 2001 to 2003 part of the Bavarian State Prosecutor's Office, after which she was appointed to the State Chancellery until she moved to the Bavarian Administrative Court in 2005. There she presided over the 11th Senate from 2013 before being appointed President of the Administrative Court of Munich in 2014.
has been a member of the Administrative Board since 2009 and heads the Committee for Technology, IT and Multimedia. From 1994 to 2008, he held a seat in the Bavarian state parliament for the SPD, and from 1990 to 2020 he was also a district councillor in the district of Roth. For his commitment, he was honoured with the Federal Cross of Merit on Ribbon and the Bavarian Constitutional Medal in Silver.
Journalist and member of the Administrative Board since May 2017. He trained at the Nürnberger Zeitung and subsequently worked for various local editorial offices. He has been a member of the BR Broadcasting Council since 1994. Stöckel was delegated to this body by the Bavarian Journalists' Association (BJV), of which he was Chairman from 1993 to 2013. He also represented the Broadcasting Council on the ARTE G.E.I.E. programme advisory board.
Further Information
Meta Data
The percentage of the total audience for radio stations is taken from the agma-Ergebung II/2023 and refers to the nationwide daily reach in the population aged 14 and over.
The percentage of the total audience for television stations is taken from the AGF Videoforschung in cooperation with the GfK 2023, accessed via Meedia.de and refers to the average annual share of the total audience.
The audience share in the online sector refers to the share of unique users, was collected by Nielsen and accessed via KEK. The date of the survey is unknown.
Note on the level of transparency:
Since a classification of the level of transparency with regard to ownership structures is not possible for public media, the evaluation included the availability of information on the supervisory and control bodies as well as information on their members and the transparency with regard to corporate investments.
