ZDF and ProSiebenSat.1 have agreed a streaming partnership that will see the German public broadcaster's on-demand content integrated into ProSieben's Joyn platform from the fourth quarter of 2026, offering ZDF news, documentaries, culture, factual and entertainment programming free and without adverts. The deal reflects a wider trend of traditional European broadcasters joining forces to counter the dominance of global streaming and tech platforms, following similar moves such as talks between Channel 4 and the BBC in the UK.

The two companies said the agreement was struck amid an "increasingly international platform landscape" and framed it as strengthening access to journalistic and cultural content "Made in Germany." It also resolves a dispute dating back to last year, when ZDF and fellow public broadcaster ARD content appeared on Joyn without agreement; courts subsequently sided with the public broadcasters under Germany's State Media Treaty, which encourages voluntary cooperation between public and commercial broadcasters. ZDF's Florian Kumb said the move would boost visibility for public broadcasting journalism online, while ProSiebenSat.1's Nicole Agudo Berbel called it "a strong, forward-looking signal" for cooperation between public and private media.