Germany's ARD, Austria's ORF and Switzerland's SRF Pool $158 Million for 2027 Shows

ARD, ORF and SRF continue their coproduction partnership with a production volume of around €135 million (roughly $158 million) next year, from nature documentaries to drama and big entertainment shows, ARD announces after the partners' coproduction meeting in Munich. Joint projects include the drama "Benko: Size Does Matter" (ORF, SRF, SWR, rbb, WDR), and the shows financed together this year include Florian Silbereisen's festival specials, "Klein gegen Groß", "Wer weiß denn sowas XXL" and "Verstehen Sie Spaß?". The meeting also centred on AI in production; SRF director Roger Elsener says AI "brings many new opportunities, but also carries dangers that make our staff anxious", while ARD programme director Christine Strobl says pooling budgets lets the three take on ambitious productions and share the risk.