KiKA is a special interest channel owned by ARD and ZDF. The station went on air for the first time on January 1, 1997 under the name “The Children’s Channel”. KiKA is based in Erfurt. While ARD and ZDF have a joint stake in the channel, MDR is mainly in charge. KiKA is therefore a public broadcaster. The TV program is ad-free and its films, series and programs are aimed at children between the ages of three and 13. In the early days, mainly children's programs, such as magazine programs such as "Dandelion", "Tabaluga Tivi" or "The Show with the Mouse" were taken from the ARD and ZDF television programs. Both live-action series such as "Neues vom Süderhof" and animated classics from the 70s and 80s such as "Wickie", "Nils Holgersson", "Maya the Bee" and "Heidi" were an integral part of KiKA's TV program. Today the proportion of live-action series is much lower, despite successful in-house productions such as “Schloss Einstein” and “Die Pfefferkörner”. Around 85% of the television program now consists of animated series, which are mostly broadcast daily and with double episodes, such as "Pet Alien" or "Here's Ian". Traditionally, the Sandman comes every evening with his evening greeting and the television program ends at 9 p.m. A true classic in the KiKA television program is “The Show with the Mouse”, which continues to delight viewers with a variety of laugh and non-fiction stories. The little ones also get their money's worth with shows like "Lilli the Witch", "Yakari" or "Little Nick".