3sat (German pronunciation: [ˈdʁaɪ̯ˌzat], Dreisat) is a free-to-air German-language public service television channel.

It is a generalist channel with a cultural focus[1] and is jointly operated by public broadcasters from Germany (ZDF, ARD), Austria (ORF) and Switzerland (SRG SSR).

In 1990, DFF, television broadcaster of the German Democratic Republic became a cooperative member of 3sat, and a name change to 4sat was considered.

In 2005, 3sat and n-tv were criticised for broadcasting TV shows which were funded by relief organizations such as World Vision Deutschland and Christoffel Blindenmission.

As a result of ZDF's spending for the then-new ZDFkultur, 2011 saw the end of many long-term 3sat broadcasts such as 3satbörse, Foyer, the computer and internet magazine neues, the animal show Arche Noah, the legal magazine Recht brisant, Vivo and others.