“Welcome to Journal on DW-TV. Hello, I'm Peter Craven reporting from Berlin.” Deutsche Welle’s news magazine is broadcast at eight o’clock, live from the German capital. Journal provides nearly 30 minutes of current affairs with a special focus on Germany and Europe and their view of the world. It presents stories from politics and business, lifestyle, the arts, science and sports. Then, “In Depth” and the “Business Review” provide viewers with detailed background information on the day’s most important events.

The main studio for Germany’s international television service is located on Voltastrasse in Berlin. DW-TV presents informational television that is available via a global satellite network 24 hours a day – in German and English, Spanish in Latin America and Arabic for viewers from Morocco to Saudi Arabia.

In 2009, Deutsche Welle began broadcasting two new channels to viewers in Asia and Australia – one with a focus on English-language programming and one with a focus on German. With these two channels Deutsche Welle was able to meet the viewers’ requests as well as the wants and needs of partner stations throughout the region.

For viewers in the Arab World, DW-TV is broadcast around the clock, switching between Arabic and English. This regionalized channel was launched in 2002 and can be viewed in more than 20 Arabic countries via the NileSat satellite. It is also broadcast via Hotbird fro viewers in Europe.

Creating regional programming options is part of Deutsche Welle’s long-term strategy – it increases the acceptance of the broadcaster internationally.

Increased cooperation with the German broadcasters ARD and ZDF will bring about substantial expansion and enhancement of DW-TV programming, following the signing of an agreement at the end of 2006. New programs for Latin America and the United States are already on air. The cooperation was further developed in April 2008. Now, DW-TV is using more content from ARD and ZDF, especially to complement shows like talking germany and germany today as well as GLOBAL 3000 and in good shape. DW-TV viewers in Asia and Australia also benefit from this cooperation.

Magazines, reports and documentaries

Journal, the half-hour news magazine, is the flagship for Germany’s international broadcaster: every hour, in English, German, Spanish and Arabic. DW-TV also presents a range of other programs providing even more in-depth information. These include People and Politics, the political magazine, Made in Germany, the business magazine, European Journal from Brussels, the science show Tomorrow Today, and Arts.21, the arts magazine. Quadriga is a talk show focusing on international topics. In euromaxx, DW-TV presents “life and culture in Europe.”

DW-TV also presents other cultural programs, such as KINO, the German film magazine, and popXport. Discover Germany looks at Germany as a travel destination. Bundesliga Kick off! and Bundesliga Kick off! Countdown present the latest news from the German soccer league during the season.

The reports and documentaries on the program In Focus cover a broad spectrum of topics. Viewers will be presented with a series looking at research and science, art and history, as well as portraits of outstanding personalities.

Millions of households receive DW-TV directly via its network of partner stations. Just in Asia, DW-TV is fed into more than 1,200 cable networks. It is also part of room service in top-ranking hotels on every continent. It’s available on the Internet as a live stream, where many programs are also available as video-on-demand or as a podcast subscription.

Looking back
DW-TV was launched in April 1992. Germany’s international broadcaster evolved from RIAS TV in Berlin during the course of German reunification. Initially, six hours of programming were broadcast via satellite. Only a few months later, the program was extended to 14 and then 16 hours. Spanish was then added as a third language. Since 1995, DW-TV has been broadcasting around the clock.

Programming content and structure has been adapted and updated a number of times – a process that has always been guided by an efficient overall concept of the way Germany’s media image is presented to the outside world. The most radical change was DW-TV’s repositioning as of January 1, 1999. Since then, DW-TV has focused on news and information, with an additional spotlight on the arts and culture.

Deutsche Welle’s experience with global television goes back to 1963. That was when DW, then based in Cologne, sent a foreign-language adaptation of a German film beyond Germany’s borders for the first time. The company TransTel (today known as DW-TRANSTEL) was founded to transcribe and distribute German TV productions. As one of the shareholders, DW took charge of the selection and adaptation of the programs, as well as the acquisition of foreign rights. DW began producing television programs on its own in 1983. In 1998, TransTel was closed down and its tasks were fully integrated into DW but the brand DW-TRANSTEL remained. In this way, hundreds of hours of programming continue to go out to the world every year in many languages. Programs are adapted in and dispatched from Berlin.

January 2011