It is funded by a mixture of advertising revenue and television licence fees: as such, unlike the German TV stations (which are generally available free-to-air), ORF 1 and its sister channels are encrypted over satellite.

Certain films and series are broadcast with both the German dub and the original (usually English) soundtrack via Zweikanalton (Two-channel sound).

A special HDTV event, introducing HD technology, was scheduled in all regional ORF stations right after.

[6] Test operations began on 1 May 2008: ten days later, these were made available to any households with an ORF card showing a trailer.

[7] ORF 1 HD officially launched on 2 June 2008, five days before the start of 2008 UEFA European Football Championship.

[8][9] Initially, the vast majority of programmes were upscaled, save for some sporting events, movie premieres and American television series.

In 2005, there was another update to ORF's on-screen design: to avoid the logo being burnt in to plasma screens, it was changed from green to grey all-over.