Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (; ), usually shortened to
ZDF, is a German public-service television broadcaster based in
Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. It is run as an independent nonprofit institution, which was founded by all federal states of Germany (
Bundesländer). ZDF is financed by
television licence fees and advertising revenues. The ZDF is well known for its famous TV formats
heute (newscast; established in 1963) and
Wetten, dass..? (entertainment show; premiered in 1981, ended in 2014). Thomas Bellut, the current director general, was elected by the ZDF Television Council in 2011.