The creation of Phoenix is credited to the former chancellor
Helmut Kohl, who wanted to create a "European Parliamentary Channel". However, the idea was rejected due to criticism by the public channels (ARD and ZDF) and suspicion that political pressure from Kohl could lead to a "Helmut-Kohl-Channel". The real idea for "Phoenix - Der Ereignis- und Dokumentationskanal" ("Phoenix - the current affairs and documentary channel") came from viewers of ARD and ZDF, who wanted a "media-political correction of faults in the system of information transfer". This created the opportunity to create a "Parliamentary Channel", with the aim of increasing credibility and satisfying consumer demand. Private channels (
RTL and
Sat.1) criticized the creation of Phoenix because they were at the time creating their own news channels (
n-tv and
N24 respectively). The headquarters of Phoenix were provisionally situated in
Cologne. However, in 2000, the headquarters were relocated to studios in
Bonn. Phoenix's highest ratings to date were in August 2006, when it had 1.0% viewer share. With about 4.5 million viewers, it had more viewers than N-TV and N24. On November 15, 2022, Phoenix closed its
SDTV feed across its cable and satellite feeds, which means it is now only available in HD. In March 2026, it was announced that ARD would close its news channel
Tagesschau24 in January 2027 as part a larger-scale consolidation of ARD and ZDF's channel portfolio; Phoenix will become the main news and information channel of the collective under the new branding
Phoenix von ARD und ZDF. The rebranded channel will be managed by ARD in partnership with
WDR.
Cancelled airing of a documentary film with far-right bias Phoenix originally scheduled a
documentary film titled () to be aired on 6 March 2025; ahead of its scheduled broadcast, the documentary was released on the channel's website, as well as on ARD Mediathek and ZDF Mediathek (the online
video on demand and streaming services of
ARD and
ZDF, respectively) on 25 February. The documentary explores the
December 2024 South Korean martial law and the political crisis that followed. The documentary, however, was heavily criticised for alleged
far-right bias and for presenting a one-sided portrayal of the political situation in South Korea, favouring the
now-impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol in the process. It features interviews with far-right figures, including Uh Dong-gyun,
Jeon Kwang-hoon and former U.S. Colonel David S. Maxwell, who repeatedly assert the unproven claims that North Korea and China are working to undermine the democracy in South Korea. The documentary features Eric J. Ballbach, the expert on the
Korean peninsula from the
German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP), as the only person with the view against such conspiracy theory. When asked by
Der Spiegel magazine, the SWP's communication department expressed the Institute's disappointment, stating that the documentary is 'highly biased and uncritical, both in the selection of information and in some of the interviewees'. Following complaints and concerns over journalistic standards, Phoenix re-examined the documetary, and by 8 March 2025, it was pulled from the channel's website, ARD Mediathek and ZDF Mediathek. Its originally scheduled airing on 6 March was replaced with a documentary about
Donald Trump. The review concluded that ignored the complexity of the political situation in South Korea, and does not meet the channel's journalistic standards. The response to the inquiry from
Der Spiegel was that the documentary was 'intended to shed light on the previously less reported perspective of the conservative
PPP around the suspended head of state Yoon', but it 'failed to do so with the necessary balance'. ==Programming==