New German travel channel in preparation

[SAT-WORLD]

German TV production company Focus TV wants to launch a pay-TV service this year focusing on travel themes.

The channel will be a “purely journalistic documentary travel channel which will serve to inspire viewers and allow them to experience more about people and countries”, managing director Matthias Pfeffer told German media industry newsletter DWDL. The service will be predominantly financed through subscription fees. “The channel will consist of independent travel journalism and therefore financing through the industry will play a limited role,” Pfeffer explained.

Together with international partners, agreements for the delivery of programme content have already been concluded. During the initial phase the TV station will purchase ready-to-air productions. “Depending on distribution and income, we will later concentrate on in-house productions,” said Pfeffer. Collaborations with German producers are also envisioned. Negotiations are currently taking place with platform operators for distribution of the service.

Focus TV has operated Focus Gesundheit (Focus Health), a thematic channel covering medicine, research, fitness, nutrition and wellbeing, since June 1 2005. The 24-hour service, which is distributed on Premiere’s pay-TV platform, currently reaches 1.6 million households in Germany and Austria. Focus TV is backed by Munich-based media company Hubert Burda Media, which also publishes weekly news magazine Focus.

Source:Rapid Tv News