Germany’s second public broadcaster has been on air since 1963, and its catch-up portal ranks among the most-visited media libraries in the country. It carries the heute news bulletins, the long-running Terra X documentary strand, the SOKO crime dramas, and Saturday-night sports coverage. Watching ZDF Mediathek outside Germany runs into one wall, though: the moment the player loads beyond the border, it reads your foreign IP address and swaps the programme for a licensing notice. The whole service is free, paid for by the Rundfunkbeitrag broadcasting fee.
The reason for the lock is rights cleared only for Germany. The fix is Surfshark, which routes your traffic through a German server so the service sees a local address. Live coverage including the Olympics streams in 1080p, with UHD and HDR rolling out on selected titles, so from your own country you get the full German ZDF catalogue at the same quality viewers enjoy at home.
Tested weekly by our team. Green: works, amber: partial, red: blocked.
| VPN Service | Price | ZDF | Tested | Action |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 SurfsharkBEST | From $1.78/mo | ✓ Works | September 14 | Try it |
 NordVPN | From $2.99/mo | ✓ Works | September 12 | Open |
 ExpressVPN | From $2.79/mo | ✓ Works | September 13 | Open |
 Private Internet Access | From $1.79/mo | ✓ Works | September 14 | Open |
 CyberGhost | From $1.75/mo | ✓ Works | September 12 | Open |
 IPVanish | From $2.19/mo | ✓ Works | September 9 | Open |
 ProtonVPN | From $3.59/mo | ✓ Works | September 13 | Open |
✓ Works✓ Works✓ Works✓ Works✓ Works✓ Works✓ WorksTakes about 2 minutes. Works on your phone, tablet, TV, PC, or laptop.
ZDF works in 5 countries, including in Germany, in Austria, in Liechtenstein, in Luxembourg and in Switzerland. In 17 more it is blocked, and outside available regions you will need a VPN.
ZDF also works in the United States, in the United Kingdom, in Australia, in Canada and in New Zealand, plus in 167 more countries, but with limited content compared to fully available countries. Surfshark unlocks full access.
ZDF is blocked in Afghanistan, in Belarus, in the British Virgin Islands, in China and in Cuba, plus in 12 more countries. To access it, use a premium VPN like Surfshark.
ZDFmediathek is the streaming and archive portal of Germany’s second public broadcaster, ZDF, which has been on air since 1963. The library pulls together live ZDF, the heute news bulletins, the Terra X documentary strand, culture from 3sat, children’s programming via KiKA and the broadcaster’s own fiction output (the long-running crime slots and the so-called Herzkino romance films). Everything is ad-free and funded by the German broadcasting licence, and the content is locked to German IP addresses.
5 tips from our ZDF testing team · Updated July 17, 2026
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