German media company Axel Springer will launch a TV spin-off channel of its tabloid newspaper BILD ahead of the federal election in September 2021.
The advertising-financed free-TV channel will be distributed via cable, satellite, IPTV and internet. An application for the broadcast licence was submitted at Berlin-based media authority MABB.
The core of the channel’s schedule will be a live programme with news and current affairs of up to six hours daily, starting in the morning. This show will be broadcast simultaneously on documentary channel N24 Doku, a sister service of Springer’s news channel WELT.
Documentaries, in-depth reports and other formats will be added to the channel’s programming schedule. The focus is on politics, sports, celebrities, crime, and service topics, among others. Programmes can be interrupted at any time for live coverage of breaking news stories and other current topics.
The new TV channel will broadcast under the BILD brand free-to-air via cable, satellite, IPTV and OTT. Advertising sales are handled by the TV marketer Visoon.
BILD will be produced out of a new TV unit in WeltN24 GmbH, in which Springer is bundling television activities for WELT, BILD and N24 Doku in future. This unit provides technical broadcasting operations and broadcast planning, distribution, and program purchasing for licensed formats.
Managing directors of WeltN24 GmbH are Frank Hoffmann as chairman of the TV unit as well as Claus Strunz, who in this position will also be responsible for the programmes of the BILD channel. Strunz is also managing director TV/video at Springer and a member of BILD’s chief editorial team.
“We want to make television that doesn’t lecture people, but shows what actually is. A coverage that gives people a voice and speaks from their hearts. 500 BILD reporters across the country will take our viewers with them, show and tell them live what is happening, but also listen to them and let them have their say wherever they are affected,” said Julian Reichelt, editor-in-chief at BILD.
Strunz added: “What we aspire to is, whenever something happens that moves our viewers, BILD will be there live. I’m looking forward to putting this goal into practice together with a great team.”
