Former pro athletes bring an unmatched perspective to sports news. With a combination of expertise and a trademark sense of humor, former World Cup champion Thomas Berthold has joined DW’s KickOff! and will host a weekly column, Berthold’s Bundesliga. As a new German Bundesliga season kicks off, Berthold will also break down the latest from the world of soccer every Monday on DW News.

Whether it is issues off the field like the Premier League buying up German players or Bundesliga team prospects for this season, DW’s new soccer expert brings a veteran’s perspective to the debate. Berthold played on the German national team when they won the World Cup in 1990. During his career he played central back for Eintracht Frankfurt, Hellas Verona, AS Rom, Bayern München and VfB Stuttgart. Berthold has played in a total of 332 Bundesliga games.

Berthold’s column is published online Mondays and is broadcast Thursdays on KickOff! Countdown.

 

Europe is currently confronted by a refugee crisis on a scale not seen since World War II and a refugee center located in Lower Saxony is being reminded of when it opened its doors over 70 years ago. At that time, there was massive migration of ethnic Germans from the east and the British Military Government opened Transit Camp Friedland to process the influx of people who had nowhere else to go.

A new DW documentary, Transit Camp Friedland, produced in cooperation with NDR focuses in on the ongoing situation today in Germany where an estimated 800,000 refugees are expected this year alone. The documentary adds depth to the current acute refugee crisis – portraying a time when Germans themselves were refugees.

Germany is seen as a place of opportunity for those seeking a new life and whose home have been destroyed. Some risk everything to make it and Friedland is for many the first place where they will feel secure and the first place where many will begin their new lives. It is a place where hope and disappointment come together as the future remains uncertain.

DW has a special role as Germany’s representative in the international media landscape to tell stories that show this country’s unique relationship with history and explain a different narrative than you may find on the surface. DW is also doing its best to show all sides of the latest refugee crisis with its special Refugees’ Hopes – Europe’s Challenge.

Veteran interviewer Tim Sebastian has forged an uncompromising style over his 40-year career that is more direct than diplomatic – but he isn’t looking for easy answers, he is looking for accountability.

In his first interview as the host of DW’s Conflict Zone he sat down with Yanis Varoufakis, the embattled and outspoken former Greek Finance Minister. Yaroufakis is someone who is experienced in fending off tough questions with what Sebastian has called a “hard edge” combined with “well-developed spin”. Indeed, Varousfakis began the interview saying, “you didn’t invite me on your program to give you powerless statements”.

Sebastian’s job was to break through the talking points and reveal a new side to the story and the person.  With the ongoing Greek economic drama reaching a new level of crisis over the summer, Varoufakis emerged as a controversial and divisive figure in European politics. Sebastian went straight to the heart and what emerged during the interview was a unique outline of the crisis and a personal look at the positions held by the Greek finance minister as a tense situation unfolded. After his resignation Varoufakis said of the so called Troika that he would “wear their loathing with pride”. Sebastian asked why he wanted to make it so personal and Varoufakis replied that they had made it personal by distorting the truth about him through the media on many occasions.

This wasn’t a comfortable discussion and Varoufakis’s barbed style proved an excellent match for Sebastian’s line of questioning. After the interview, Sebastian said it had been a “good battle”. Sebastian who has come up against masters of spin like Bill Clinton or the intellectual prowess of Noam Chomsky said that the interview revealed why many of the other European finance ministers were fed up with Varoufakis. “He is very convinced that he is right and that he is the only person who is right.” During the interview Varoufakis said that his former colleagues lacked “sophistication” and that there was “no discussion” of macro-economics in the Eurogroup.

The interviews on Conflict Zone make a difference because of the time and effort that goes into producing questions that poke holes in arguments and challenge interviewees with facts. As the intensity of this first interview indicates, the next guest on Conflict Zone should come well prepared.

 

Digital

DW is one of the first broadcasters to make use of the latest in OTT services from Opera. In selecting Opera TV Snap for broadcasters, DW will leverage the latest version to enable users to access multilingual DW live programming and on-demand content, all from the comfort of their sofas. Viewers can access these services through the Opera TV Store app platform, available on tens of millions of devices from over 15 global manufacturers. Opera TV Snap providea broadcasters with expanded OTT capabilities on Smart TVs, including a ready-to-deploy Hybrid Broadcast Broadband TV (HbbTV) solution to drive seamless interactivity on linear TV.

“DW is committed to bring engaging content to our viewers. We’re excited to upgrade our Smart TV offering by utilizing the latest version of Opera TV Snap. We’ve found this path to be convenient in reaching Smart TV and HbbTV audiences,” says Petra Schneider, Director of Sales and Distribution at DW.

South America

Portuguese content from DW is now available on smart TVs, tablets and smartphones in Brazil via Moony, the new streaming platform from Samsung available for download on the Google Play Store or Galaxy Apps. DW has an exclusive place among 40 content providers that are on board for the roll out of the service. Moony users in Brazil have instant access to the latest episodes of popular DW shows like Futurando and Camarote.21 along with Portuguese content from DW Transtel including EinSteinchen ,Ecopia or From Tierra del Fuego to Tijuana.

Asia

DW has a new partner in Sri Lanka. The sports, lifestyle and business channel Carlton Sports Network (CSN) has aquired four DW shows including Drive it and In Good Shape. CSN reaches an estimated 2.5 million households in Sri Lanka.

DW’s Pakistani partner ATV is now broadcasting a DW news bulletin during prime time. The channel is the largest private television network in Pakistan, serving all major cities and commercial centers.

DW was in Dhaka this week to provide journalists and media professionals a look at the the new 24/7 English news channel presented in cooperation with local partner Bangladesh Television (BTV). The flagship program, DW News, features a programming block that focuses on regional issues for Asia and content with regional significance in cooperation with local partners. These co-productions will maintain DW’s standards while allowing partners the flexibility to use their own graphics and on air personalities – a method that succeeds in combining international expertise with regional appeal.

In Bangladesh, DW reaches an audience of opinion leaders and people who are curious about learning and seeking information. Dorothee Ulrichs, DW’s Head of Asia Distribution said theses are people who aren’t satisfied with tag lines or headlines and want to “discover new places and understand the ‘why’ in the world around them”.

Part of the global launch of DW News last June was a promotional campaign that focused on the audience and highlighted local heroes in regions all over the world. Local heroes are people who make a difference in their communities by working, thinking, creating and innovating. Two Bangladeshi local heroes were guests at the launch in Dhaka. Their work sets an exceptional example.

Mahfuza Akter is an Infolady – volunteers who bike hundreds of miles a month to provide advice and medicine to thousands of people in remote, impoverished villages around the country. Using the Internet, they connect people with modernized methods and ideas that they cannot access elsewhere. Their work also earned them a 2013 DW Bobs online activism award. And Korvi Rakshand founded the JAAGO foundation in 2007, which provides education for disadvantaged children living in slums. The school also promotes volunteer action groups in Bangladesh through the initiative Volunteer for Bangladesh. The project has organized over 10,000 volunteers in Bangladesh who are working to enact positive social change.