Der schwarze Kanal
Der schwarze Kanal () is a series of political propaganda programmes which was aired weekly between 1960 and 1989 by East German state television broadcaster DFF. Each edition was made up of recorded extracts from recent West German television programmes re-edited to include a communist commentary. The 20-minute programme was usually scheduled for transmission at around 21:30 CET on Monday evenings (which repeated again on Tuesday mornings at 11:30), before or after some popular item in the hope that viewers tuning in early to catch the film would see the programme. According to some sources, official surveys gave a 5% audience figure. The title sequence featured an eagle (symbol of the Federal Republic) with a black, white and red chest band representing their flag of the German Empire during the pre-World War I era, while the antennas also featured a parody of the ARD's Tagesschau title sequence between 1956 and 1973. History The programme was hosted by Karl-Eduard von Schnitzler and began on 21 March 1960, within the name "Black Channel" is a play on words: in the German language "black channel" is a euphemism by plumbers for a sewer (compare English soil pipe). The name and the concept of