DW-TV Asia launches English feed for India

Deutsche Welle, a German broadcasting company, has launched a second channel for the Asian market. The company had launched its first channel, DW-TV Asia, in 1998. The channel is positioned as an infotainment, lifestyle and news channel. However, this channel has 16 hours of German feed, while the other eight hours of programming is in English.

The second channel, which is called DW-TV Asia+, will have 18 hours of English programming and the remaining six hours will have a German feed.

The channels offer a mix of European lifestyle, culture, arts, and health and wellness content. About 30 per cent of the content comprises of news features, including in-depth reports, business and politics reports, interviews and talk shows. The content will be fed by the Deutsche Welle content library.

Both the channels are available on DTH and cable platforms, which includes Sun Direct TV, DD Direct + DTH, InCable Networks, Hathway Cable, Manthan Broadband Services, Ortel, Siticable, Seven Star, Asianet and Atria, as well several large hotel chains.

Petra Schneider, director, distribution, Deutsche Welle, says, “We’ve had very strong demand and support for the prior feed but there’s also been persistent demand for our content to be made available in English.”

Till now, DW-TV Asia primarily targeted the German speaking population based in Asia. The English feed is expected to broaden its reach.

Schneider adds, “There is also a huge cosmopolitan audience in India, with a special interest in news not only from the region but from Europe as well. Young, well educated Indians are internationally oriented to pick up their careers and they naturally want to know about life in Europe and Germany.”

Deutsche Welle also has other properties such as DW-Radio and DW-World.de that provide news, background information and cultural highlights of the European countries to create a platform for inter-cultural dialogue.

The channel will also focus on co-produced shows with Asian companies in the future. “We will be on-location in Asia with our own journalists. We will be able to regionalise even more. This launch is just the first step towards more Asia-specific offerings,” adds Schneider.

The channels will showcase programmes such as Euromaxx, a daily lifestyle magazine showing the facets of European living; Drive It!, a show on the auto industry of Germany and the rest of Europe; Arts 21, a European and international cultural show; In Good Shape, a health show; Global 3000, which investigates the risks and opportunities of globalisation; In Focus, a documentary based show; and Journal, a news programme.

As a promotional feature, the channel is organising a slew of contests which will give the viewers a chance to experience Europe. It is organising an on-air contest, where a viewer will get a grand prize of a week in Berlin, inclusive of airfare, accommodations for two people and Euro 1,000 to spend.