Deutsche Welle (DW) will increase its focus on television, online and mobile services and decrease its shortwave broadcasts in a process starting this summer. Starting July 1, 2011, DW  will be making major changes in how and when its radio programming is broadcast in Asia and Europe, as well as German radio programming as a whole.

The measures will ensure the further development of Germany’s international broadcaster to a truly multimedia organization. DW will focus on modern modules that can be integrated into partner’s FM line-ups as well as being offered as stand-alone, on-demand services for the Internet and mobile devices. DW will thereby increase the cooperation with its partners throughout the world. With the exception of Africa and parts of Asia, linear shortwave broadcasts will be discontinued due to limited usage. The resources that have been saved will be reinvested in projects for the future – especially in the development of television services with regional languages and content, as well as an increase in online and mobile services.

DW will aim to use its available resources to offer two TV channels per region. This will give viewers the opportunity to choose between a channel with predominantly German programming and a channel with a focus on one of the regional languages – English, Spanish or Arabic.

Read the official press release here.