| Type | International public broadcaster |
|---|---|
| Country | Germany |
| Founded | 3 May 1953 |
| Headquarters | Berlin/Bonn, Germany |
| Broadcast area | National and international |
| Owner | ARD |
| Launch date | 3 May 1953 |
| Official website | www.dw-world.de |
Deutsche Welle (German pronunciation: [ˈdɔʏtʃə ˈvɛlə], with a [v] sound) or DW, is Germany's international broadcaster. The service is aimed at the overseas market. It broadcasts news and information on shortwave, Internet and satellite radio on 98.7 DZFE in 30 languages (DW Radio). It has a satellite television service (DW-TV), that is available in four languages, and there is also an online news site. Deutsche Welle, which in English means "German Wave", is similar to international broadcasters such as the BBC World Service, Radio Canada International, Radio Free Europe and Radio France Internationale.
Deutsche Welle has broadcast regularly since 1953. Until 2003 it was based in Cologne, when it relocated to a new building, the "Schürmann-Bau", in Bonn's former government office area. The television broadcasts are produced in Berlin. Deutsche Welle's World Wide Web site is produced in both Berlin and Bonn.
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Deutsche Welle was inaugurated on 3 May 1953, with an address by German President Theodor Heuss as its first shortwave broadcast. On 11 June 1953, the public broadcasters in the ARD signed an agreement to share responsibility for Deutsche Welle. At first, it was controlled by Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk (NWDR). In 1955, when this split into the separate Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR) and Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR) networks, WDR assumed responsibility for Deutsche Welle programming. In 1960, Deutsche Welle became an independent public body after a court ruled that broadcasting from Germany was part of the federal government's foreign-affairs function. On 7 June 1962, it joined the ARD as a national broadcasting station.
Some language services have been discontinued, both due to financial cuts and an allegedly decreasing demand. In 1998, Danish, Norwegian, Dutch and Italian radio services were discontinued. 1999 was the last year for language services in Japanese, Slovak, Slovene, Spanish, Czech and Hungarian.
With German reunification in 1990, Radio Berlin International (RBI) of East Germany ceased to exist. Some of the staff and personnel of RBI joined Deutsche Welle, and it inherited some broadcasting apparatus, including the transmitting facilities at Nauen as well as RBI's frequencies.
DW-TV began as RIAS-TV, a television station launched by the West Berlin broadcaster RIAS (Radio in the American Sector / Rundfunk im Amerikanischen Sektor) in August 1988. The fall of the Berlin Wall the following year and German reunification in 1990 meant that RIAS-TV was to be closed down. On 1 April 1992, Deutsche Welle inherited the RIAS-TV broadcast facilities, using them to start a German- and English-language television channel broadcast via satellite, DW-TV, adding a short Spanish broadcast segment the following year. In 1995, it began 24-hour operation (12 hours German, 10 hours English, 2 hours Spanish). At that time, DW TV introduced a new news studio and a new logo.
Deutsche Welle took over some of the former independent radio broadcasting service Deutschlandfunk's foreign-language programming in 1993, when Deutschlandfunk was absorbed into the new Deutschlandradio.
In addition to radio and television programming, DW sponsored some published material. For example, the South Asia Department published German Heritage: A Series Written for the South Asia Programme in 1967 and in 1984, published African Writers on the Air. Both publications were transcript of DW programming.
In late 1994, Deutsche Welle was the first public broadcaster in Germany with a World Wide Web presence, which at the time was (www.dwelle.de), although for its first two years the site listed little more than contact addresses. This later evolved into the current 30-language Web site.
For its 10th anniversary celebration in 2004, DW-World provided a Klingon language version of its website under klingon.dw-world.de.
The Internet news site offers daily exclusive coverage in seven core languages (Arabic, Chinese, English, German, Spanish, Portuguese for Brazil and Russian) as well as a mixture of news and information in 23 other languages corresponding to Deutsche Welle's radio programs. Persian became DW-WORLD.DE's eighth focus language in 2007.
German and European news are DW-WORLD.DE's central focus, but the site also offers background information regarding Germany and German language courses.
In 2001, Deutsche Welle (in conjunction with ARD and ZDF) founded the German TV subscription TV channel for North American viewers. The project was shut down after four years due to low subscriber numbers. It has since been replaced by the DW-TV channel (also a subscription service).
Unlike most other international broadcasters, DW-TV doesn't charge terrestrial stations for use of its programming, and as a result its News Journal and other programs are rebroadcast on numerous public broadcasting stations in several countries, including United States, Australia, and New Zealand. In the Philippines, it is shown nationwide on Net-25 and GEM TV.
Deutsche Welle is still suffering from financial and personnel cuts. Its budget was decreased by about €75 million over five years and of the 2,200 employees it had in 1994, 1,200 remain. Further cuts are still expected.
In 2003, the German government passed a new "Deutsche Welle Law", which defined DW as a three-media organization—making the Deutsche Welle website an equal partner with DW-TV and DW-RADIO. The website is available in 30 languages, but focuses on German, English, Spanish, Russian, Portuguese for Brazil, Chinese and Arabic. Persian became the eighth focus language in 2007.
In March 2009, DW-TV is expanding its television services in Asia with two new channels namely DW-TV Asia and DW-TV Asia+. DW-TW Asia (DW-TV Asien in German) contains 16 hours of German programming and 8 hours in English while DW-TV Asia+ on the other hand contains 18 hours of English programs plus 6 hours in German programs.[1]
In August 2009, DW-TV's carriage in the United Kingdom on Sky channel 794 ceased, although the channel continues to be available via other European satellites receivable in the UK.[2]
The Jülich radio transmitter site began operation in 1956, with eleven 100 kW Telefunken transmitters.
The Wertachtal site was authorized in 1972 and began service with four 500 kW transmitters. By 1989, there were 15 transmitters, four of which relayed the Voice of America.
The Nauen transmitter site was inherited from Radio Berlin International. RBI's Russian-made three 500 kW and one 100 kW transmitters were replaced by four Telefunken 500 kW transmitters and four rotatable antennas.
A relay station in Malta had three SW and one 600 kW- MW transmitter and gave partial coverage of the Americas, Southern Asia, and the Far East.[3] It was established in the early 1970s in exchange for a grant of nearly 1 million GBP. The station closed in January 1996.
Deutsche Welle shares a transmitting station in the Caribbean with the BBC, and has a relay-exchange with the CBC that allows DW to use two 250 kW transmitters in Sackville.[4]
DW leases time on the following relay stations
| DW TV Europe | |
|---|---|
| Launched | August 1988 |
| Owned by | ARD |
| Picture format | 16:9 (576i, SDTV) |
| Slogan | "At the Heart of Europe" (English) "Aus der Mitte Europas" (German) |
| Country | Germany |
| Language | German English |
| Broadcast area | Europe Middle East North Africa |
| Website | [1] |
| Availability | |
| Satellite | |
| Hot Bird 8 (Europe, Middle East, North Africa) | 11604 H 27500-5/6 |
| DW Platform | Channel 228 |
| Cable | |
| Naxoo | Channel 159 (Sweden) |
| UPC Poland | Channel 814 |
| Internet television | |
| Livestation | Watch (Free, 502 Kbit/s, German and English on same channel] |
| DW TV Africa | |
|---|---|
| Language | German English |
| Broadcast area | Africa Middle East Europe |
| Availability | |
| Satellite | |
| Atlantic Bird 3 (Africa, Europe, Middle East) | 3727 R 29950-7/8 |
| DStv (South Africa) | Channel 446 |
| DW TV Arabic | |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Middle East North Africa |
| Availability | |
| Satellite | |
| AsiaTeleSat (Asia, Middle East, Australia | |
| DW TV Asia | |
|---|---|
| Language | German English |
| Broadcast area | Asia Oceania |
| Availability | |
| Satellite | |
| AsiaSat 3S (Asia-Pacific) | 3760 H 26000-7/8 |
| DishHD (Taiwan) | Channel 6655 |
| Cable | |
| HKBN bbTV (Hong Kong) | Channel 751 |
| Cablelink (Philippines) | Channel 68 |
| SkyCable (Philippines) | Channel 72 |
| Global Destiny Cable (Philippines) | Channel 87 |
| StarHub TV (Singapore) | Channel 153 |
| IPTV | |
| mio TV (Singapore) | Channel 57 |
| UniFi (Malaysia) | Channel 121 |
| Hypp.TV (Malaysia) | Channel 2005 |
| CHT MOD (Taiwan) | Channel 114 |
| DW TV Asia+ | |
|---|---|
| Language | English German |
| Broadcast area | Asia Oceania |
| Availability | |
| Satellite | |
| AsiaSat 3S (Asia-Pacific) | 4071 H 14240-3/4 |
| Insat 4B (India) | 11490 V 27500-3/4 |
| Agila 2 (Southeast Asia) | 12544 V 21429-5/6 |
| Koreasat 5 (Korea & Southeast Asia) | 12470 V 25600-5/6 |
| Dream Satellite TV (Philippines) | Channel 32 |
| Cable | |
| Royal Cable (Philippines) | Channel 56 |
| Parasat Cable TV (Philippines) | Channel 202 |
| IPTV | |
| CHT MOD (Taiwan) | Channel 120 |
| DW TV Latin America | |
|---|---|
| Slogan | "Desde el Corazón de Europa" (Spanish) |
| Language | English German |
| Broadcast area | Americas |
| Availability | |
| Satellite | |
| Intelsat 9 (America) | 3840 H 27690-7/8 |
| Telefónica TV Digital (Brazil) | Channel 450 |
| Nossa TV (Brazil) | Channel |
| Sky Brasil (Brazil) | Channel 110 |
| Via Embratel (Brazil) | Channel 134 |
| GVT (Brazil) | Channel 146 |
| Telefónica TV Digital (Chile, Colombia) | Channel 438 |
| SKY Mexico (Mexico) | Channel 279 |
| DirecTV Latin America | Channel 770 |
| Cable Mágico Satelital (South America) | Channel 438 |
| DW TV North America | |
|---|---|
| Language | English German |
| Broadcast area | North America |
| Availability | |
| Satellite | |
| AMC 1 (North America) | 3740 V 29270-7/8 |
| Bell TV (Canada) | Channel 709 |
| DISH Network (USA) | Channel 725 |
| Cable | |
| Rogers Cable (Canada) | Channel 195 |
| Shaw Cable (Canada) | Channel 194 |
| Comcast (USA) | Channel 315 (San Francisco Bay Area) |
| Time Warner (USA) | Channel 553 |
| IPTV | |
| TELUS TV (Canada) | Channel 550 |
| FiOS TV (USA) | Channel 1787 |
Deutsche Welle manages its own international training institute. A total of twenty trainees are trained each year to become future editors. Out of this ten trainees are chosen from Germany for the German programs; and the other ten from all over the world for ten different foreign-language programs. The training lasts for a period of eighteen months. During this period, the trainees are trained for all the three areas of Deutsche Welle: Radio, TV and Online. In 2009 DW-Academy started Masters Program in collaboration with the University of Bonn. 25 students from all over the world can enroll themselves for the two year Masters Program. The DW-Academy is also active all over the world. It manages various programs in collaboration with international universities, for example, the IGNOU in India. The academy also holds a number of train the trainer programs.
DW-TV operates seven channels:
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