German public broadcaster ZDF has stepped into the breachleft by SAT.1 as the new media partner for the 2005 edition of the Berlinale.

In addition to providing extensive coverage of the festival,ZDF and its partner channel 3sat will be responsible for organising and stagingthe opening gala, the award ceremony and other Berlinale events.

ZDF plans coverage on its daily news programmes and suchmagazine programmes as ZDF-Morgenmagazin, hallo Deutschland, Leute heute, andZDF.reporter. The ZDF arts magazine programme aspekte as well as Kulturzeit andKennwort Kino on 3sat will also broadcast in-depth reports on the competitionprogramme and on the films and themes of the other sections.

Berlin-based SAT.1 had been a main sponsor of the Berlinalefor the last seven years and shared the official partner status in 2004 withL'Oreal and Volkswagen (which will still be sponsoring the festival nextFebruary).