Sat.1 is a German private television station with a full program, based in Unterföhring near Munich. The station belongs to ProSiebenSat.1 Media SE. The average age of viewers is 54 (as of 2022)

The station is considered the first private television station to be founded in Germany. It was established in January 1984 as PKS (Programmgesellschaft für Kabel- und Satellitenrundfunk), initially a joint venture between various publishers, and was renamed Sat.1 in January 1985. The first broadcast could only be seen by around 1200 households with a cable connection in the city of Ludwigshafen. The first programs included old films (mainly from the KirchMedia archives), American hit series and game shows (the best-known program was the German version of Wheel of Fortune). Later, the station acquired a name for its original series and TV movies. Until 1988, it was the most-watched television station in West Germany. Sat.1 has been broadcasting a 24-hour program since mid-1993.

In 1992, Sat.1 acquired the first exploitation rights to the German Soccer League on free TV and the new soccer show ran - Sat.1 Bundesliga was broadcast for the first time on August 14, 1992. The station held the rights until 2003.

Sat.1 has also been represented on the Internet since February 20, 1996. Over the following years, Sat.1 Online has developed into a general interest service that covers topics such as lifestyle, sport, advice, family entertainment and cars in addition to program information. Since March 12, 2008, www.sat1.de - like the ProSieben and Kabel Eins websites - has offered the option of watching certain programs from the previous week online afterwards and rating them

On October 2, 2000, Sat.1 merged organizationally with the television station ProSieben. This merger gave rise to ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG.

On November 10, 2001, Sat.1 achieved its best ratings to date with an average of 14.02 million viewers and a market share of 55.1 percent for the 2002 World Cup qualifying match between Ukraine and Germany.

On January 20, 2009, the first strike by employees in German private television took place in Berlin. The reason for the staff meeting was the failure of negotiations between Sat.1 and the employee representatives on a social plan.

The pay-TV sister channel Sat.1 Emotions (formerly Sat.1 Comedy) broadcasts comedy, romance and feature films. A second, free-to-air Sat.1 spin-off, Sat.1 Gold, was launched in 2013.

In Switzerland, Austria and Luxembourg, the station broadcasts the German program, but the first two include Swiss and Austrian programs. (Source: Wikipedia)