1996 in German television

Events

• 1 March - Leon is selected to represent Germany at the 1996 Eurovision Song Contest with his song "Planet of Blue". He is selected to be the forty-first German Eurovision entry during Ein bisschen Glück held at the Friedrich-Ebert-Halle in Hamburg.
• 31 March - The first season of Soundmix Show was won by Bianca Shomburg performing as Celine Dion.

Debuts

Free for air

Domestic

• 1 January -
• 14 January - Der Bulle von Tölz
• 12 March - Alarm für Cobra 11 – Die Autobahnpolizei
• 20 April - ''Die Wochenshow''

International

• 14 June - Keeping Up Appearances
• 17 August - Friends
• 8 September - Barney & Friends
• / DragonFlyz Caroline in the City
• ''Wacky Races''

Cable

International

• November - ''The Ren & Stimpy Show''

American Forces Network

• ''The Lion King's Timon & Pumbaa''

BFBS

• 18 January - The Thin Blue Line
• 21 January - The Beatles Anthology
• 22 January - Black Hearts in Battersea
• 31 January - The Demon Headmaster
• 2 February - Pride and Prejudice
• 17 April - / The Genie From Down Under
• 13 June - Dennis the Menace
• 17 June - Agent Z and the Penguin from Mars
• 17 June - Madson
• 23 July - Bimble's Bucket
• 26 July - The Big Bang
• 21 October - / ''Romuald the Reindeer''

Television shows

1950s

• ''Tagesschau''

1960s

• ''heute''

1970s

• ''Tagesthemen''

1980s

• Wetten, dass..?
• ''Lindenstraße''

1990s

• Gute Zeiten, schlechte Zeiten
• Marienhof
• Unter uns
• Verbotene Liebe
• Gottschalks Hausparty
• ''Soundmix Show''

Ending this year

• ''Soundmix Show''

Births

• 17 September – Mike Singer, German pop singer and television personality