Broadcasting: NDR gets a new director

The NDR manager and journalist Hendrik Lünenborg becomes director of North German Radio. The 53-year-old was the only candidate in the election and received the necessary two-thirds majority. Lünenborg will in future be responsible for the public service broadcaster with around 5,000 festivals and freelance employees.

The choice of the third largest ARD broadcaster with 1.1 billion euros annual budget from the broadcasting contribution (as of 2023) was under great observation because it was the second attempt. At the beginning of April, the choice of director failed with another candidate. In the end, the external manager from the Bertelsmann cosmos, Sandra Harzer-Kux, were missing a few votes.

The NDR control committee later proposed Lünenborg as an alternative. The committee justifies the fact that there is only one candidate in an election with the rules in the NDR state contract.

50 out of 53 votes went to Lünenborg. There was a no voice and two abstentions. The broadcasting inspectors of the round radio council had chosen. The future director said after the election that he felt strong tailwind through this result. “I’m happy and will do my best.”

Predecessor offered earlier change

Lünenborg knows the NDR well, he has been working there for decades. He has headed the state radio house in Hamburg since July 2023. In earlier years he also worked as a journalist for the NDR. Already during his traineeship he got to know every corner of this house, Lünenborg said in his application speech in front of the broadcasting councils. And emphasized: “I know the NDR very, very well.” And precisely because he knows him as well, he knew how he could change it.

He wants to focus on the digital orientation of the house. In order to have digital success, new formats are quickly needed, for example for platforms such as YouTube and Tiktok. “We will just have to be faster in format development,” said Lünenborg.

The NDR man follows the broadcaster Joachim Knuth. The 66-year-old had offered an early transition. Knuth has been NDR director since January 2020. His contract actually runs regularly until mid -January 2026. Lünenborg begins on September 1st. His term takes five years.

Three reasons why the new personnel is so important:

The ARD-Nachrichten flagships “Tagesschau” and “Daily topics” are produced in Hamburg in NDR studios. In addition, the news channel Tagesschau24 has been expanded with live reporting for years.

The NDR boss is a advocate for the “Tagesschau” brand. This will become particularly important in the next few years: a show of strength with the ARD-ZDF news broadcaster Phoenix indicates. According to the countries, the broadcasting should bundle its offer more and to focus on the Internet – one of the two TV news channels with a classic program could be eliminated. Whether it could hit Phoenix or Tagesschau24 – this is open.

Regional programs – where is saved?

The NDR broadcast area is located in Hamburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein. All German federal states have prescribed a savings course for public service broadcasting by state contract. Radio stations will be lost at ARD. It is still unclear which it affects.

Dispute over the broadcasting contribution

ARD and ZDF have been drawn to the Federal Constitutional Court for an increase in the broadcasting contribution. The decision is pending. Households have been paying 18.36 euros per month for years. An independent financial commission had actually recommended an increase of 58 cents to 18.94 euros from January 2025. The federal states decide, but must be closely based on the commission’s recommendation according to the legal situation.

But above all Saxony-Anhalt and Bavaria were against a plus. The federal states jointly stated that the broadcasting contribution should not increase for the time being and refer to the austerity course. ARD and ZDF complained and emphasize that planning security is needed for the transmitters.

The NDR director has to set up the economic plans in uncertain times – without knowing how the broadcasting contribution will develop. Because of his large broadcast area, the broadcaster must keep in touch with several state governments in the north in order to fight for the interests of the radio.