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GERMAN-TV: Dr. Thomas Bilstein New Chairman of Programme and Economic Policy Board

WDR Administration Chief Steps into Post for One Year - His Deputy is Dr. Frank-Dieter Freiling from ZDF - Christoph Lanz New Director of DW-TV

https://p.dw.com/p/1huV

In the wake of preparations to launch GERMAN-TV, the joint German-language foreign television channel of Deutsche Welle (DW) and the German public broadcasters ARD and ZDF, the participating networks have unanimously agreed on the distribution of a number of key posts. This was announced by DW, which is responsible for programming for the joint project, on January 15, 2002.

The GERMAN-TV Programme and Economic Policy Board (PEP) was restructured at the start of the year. Chairman of the 10-member board is Dr. Thomas Bilstein, who has been the administrative head at the WDR public broadcaster since September, 2001. His deputy is Dr. Frank-Dieter Freiling, head of the International Relations Department at ZDF. In accordance with the administrative agreement jointly agreed on by the director-generals of DW, ZDF and ARD, Dr. Bilstein will hold the post for twelve months, at which time the chairmanship will then pass to Dr. Freiling.

The new Managing Director of GERMAN-TV Programming is Dr. Wolfgang Krüger. DW Director-General Erik Bettermann also named Christoph Lanz to succeed Dr. Krüger as Director of DW-TV, as of January 1, 2002. Mr. Lanz, editor-in-chief of DW-TV since its inception in April 1992, has been a key factor in the successful development of DW's foreign television broadcasting operations.

In his new function, Mr. Lanz will also be a member of GERMAN-TV's PEP board. The administrative guidelines stipulate that the board consist of three members each from the participating broadcasting organizations as well as the programme director. Otto Lindner, Director of Finances, and Chief Engineer Peter Senger are the other two board members representing DW.

In addition to Dr. Bilstein, the ARD is represented on the PEP board by Andreas Weiss, the Coordinator for Foreign Activities in the ARD Programming Department, and Angela Boeckler, Director of Financing at ARD affiliate, NDR. Besides Dr. Freiling, ZDF has appointed Martin Berthoud, Director of Programme Planning, and Dr. Alexander Coridass, Managing Director of ZDF Enterprises GmbH.

GERMAN-TV is a German-language "Best of" format, selected from ARD, ZDF and DW programming. The emphasis is on information, culture and the arts and will initially be available on Pay-TV in the United States. A seven-hour test programme is scheduled for broadcasting, beginning February 1, 2002.

GERMAN-TV will be transmitted over the GlobeCast DTH-World-Television-Platform via the satellites Telstar 5 and GE-1. DW and GlobeCast signed a lease agreement for the platform in Cologne on December 7, 2001. The agreement also gives GlobeCast the responsibility for subscription administration and for the distribution of the DVB decoder boxes.

January 15, 2002