ARD’s Tagesschau led its 20:00 broadcast with Schabowski’s border announcement on 9 November 1989.
The announcement had been made at an East German press conference earlier that evening, where Günter Schabowski mistakenly indicated that new travel regulations took effect immediately. West German television quickly transmitted the news across the Federal Republic and into East Germany, where ARD and ZDF broadcasts were widely watched.
ZDF’s heute showed excerpts at about 19:17, while ARD’s main evening bulletin, Tagesschau, made the story its lead at 20:00. That timing was crucial: many East Germans heard the report before going to the border crossings, where crowds soon demanded to be allowed into West Berlin.
The alternatives describe different programs. Aktuelle Kamera was the principal East German state television news program, while heute was ZDF’s bulletin and Tagesthemen was ARD’s later in-depth news program. Tagesschau is therefore the specific canonical answer for the 20:00 ARD broadcast.