Broadcasting in East Germany was owned by the state, and was under its tight control and censorship. Broadcasting's governing body in East Germany was the Staatliches Komitee für Rundfunk (the National Committee for Broadcasting), a government department directly controlled by the Central Committee of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) and modelled after the Soviet Union's broadcasting system. The committee controlled two overall organisations - Rundfunk der DDR (radio) and Deutscher Fernsehfunk (later Fernsehen der DDR) (television).