Sorry, but this is just not the case. The mediathek apps are still rather useful, which have their live broadcasts and also an archive of their content. Most stuff, except for live TV such as football (soccer) games, I almost always watch on demand in their mediathek.

I regularly use tagesschau.de, I regularly listen to their radio stations, via apps.

I personally think the ARD/ZDF are important to have, and also keep the commercial players on their feet a little. And provide a lot of programming, like documentaries and information shows that are good to have but that commercial players wouldn't touch (or if e.g. RTL did their own versions, I would dread the outcome).

I also think the GEZ fees are a little too high, and they waste a ton of money in their bureaucracy. I'd rather have the BBC (which Boris wants to dismantle) than the ARD/ZDF, but this is the next best thing.

I couldn't disagree more about the ARD/ZDF being useful. I'd even go as far as saying they are harmful (biased news, promoting gambling, ...). But we can agree to disagree on that.

What I think is absolutely not OK is the current funding method using a compoulsory payment. If you say that public TV is beneficial to society then it should be funded through regular taxes which are collected equitably (ie. based on income). If however publicly funded TV is not a benefit to society then there should be a way to opt out. There was before ARD/ZDF added these online services.