Latin America

The Mexican news and information channel, Efekto Notícias, is now broadcasting a large part of the DW (Latinoamérica) programming line up. Since the beginning of May, DW shows like Euromaxx, Europe en concierto (Europe in Concert), Al Volante (Drive it) und En Forma (In Good Shape) have been available on the channel. Founded five years ago, Efekto Notícias can be received via major Mexican cable providers such as Sky, Cablevisión and Totalplay reaching 226 cities in Mexico with a total audience of 40 million according to its own estimates.

The Latin American business portal americaeconomia.com is now including written content from DW. The Chile-based web platform is also successful in Peru, Mexico, Argentina and Venezuela.

Asia

DW’s flagship channel, DW, is now being included as part of a new IPTV package from the Indian telecommunications giant, Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd. The service, still in the preliminary phase, can be accessed via mobile devices. Reliance Jio is one of India’s largest telecoms and also provides 4G services to its customers in New Dehli and Mumbai, a standard that is just  starting to emerge in India.

The only IPTV provider in Sri Lanka, PEO TV, now includes DW as a part of its service. The service is available for free to 90,000 subscribers.

DW’s Indoneisan partner TVMU will now carry the DW shows In Good Shape and Global 3000 along with the Indonesian science program, Inovator.

Guest Commentary

Petra Schneider, DW’s Director of Sales and Distribution

If you wanted to watch your favorite show 20 years ago, it was like catching a train: You had to be on-time. If you were in part of the world with limited entertainment options, maybe a global broadcaster could provide you with a trickle of content. Now fast forward to the Internet age where an endless amount of content covers literally everything imaginable. Things are changing fast and big broadcasters are constantly adapting to make as much available as possible.
Technology has once again triumphed over geography. Producing media that can be adapted to succeed in diverse global markets is imperative as distribution and consumption have become less affected by borders. It has never been easier to access content globally and for media providers like DW, competition is growing in a market sector that was once exclusively occupied by international broadcasters.

These are some of the big issues that will be covered at this year’s MIPCOM global entertainment conference. According to MIPcube, broadcasters providing many gateways which guide and facilitate their audience’s access to content are those who will succeed. Audiences are quickly changing from passive consumers to active users who demand flexibility in choosing what and when they watch.

Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) is a medium providing on-demand content that is really set to take off— especially in developing markets. According to a study by Digital TV Research, IPTV is projected to add 98 million new subscribers globally by 2018. 71 percent of these new subscribers will be in the Asia-Pacific market.

DW has established brand recognition in markets like Asia and can play off its traditional strengths with content provided on new mediums. Programming packages that are internationally successful, such as DW Transtel, are already available on-demand but they can also be packaged to fit the growing IPTV market and even be connected with other DW media and networked by users on platforms.

The disruptive effect of social media and content sharing on broadcasters and studios should instead be seen as an opportunity. When thinking about how to best use social media, many large broadcasting companies are still stuck on the idea of a sender-receiver dichotomy. Rather than trying to create a dialogue between “us and them”, broadcasters should be providing platforms where users can network and share news, video and multimedia content. The interactivity of IPTV packages could allow for this user generated distribution and there is no reason why platforms cannot be managed by large broadcasters. The more flexible broadcasters are in distributing content with rapidly changing mediums, the more successful they will be in growing and maintaining an audience.

Asia

DW programming is now available on Xunlei-Kankan, one of the largest online video platforms in China. The platform has integrated clips from the magazines Global Ideas and Future Now, which have been translated into Chinese, as well as clips in English from shows like Arts.21, Discover Germany, Global 3000, In Good Shape, Made in Germany, Euromaxx, Drive It! und Tomorrow Today. Xunlei-Kankan has more than 260 million users.

In Pakistan, DW content is now available on smartphones via UFone. The provider now offers its more than 2 million mobile customers DW’s English television program.

Learning by Ear is now available for mobile users in Afghanistan with Afghan Wireless (AWCC). The mobile provider has more than 4 million subscribers throughout Afghanistan and is offering the series as content via its interactive voice response (IVR) system.

 

Latin America

DW has acquired another partner for its Spanish television channel in Latin America with Claro Peru. The second-largest television station in Peru will now include DW (Latinoamérica) in its digital TV package. Claro is part of the América Móvil group – the leading telecommunications provider in Latin America with more than 300 million customers.

 

Africa / Middle East

Shahid.net and DU are now featuring content from DW (Arabia) in their programming lineup. The two IPTV platforms are new to the media landscape in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

English episodes of Learning by Ear are now available on Vodafone Ghana. By working with Yassu, the Learning by Ear content will be available on all mobile phones as audio on demand.

America
DW has lined up three new partners in Venezuela. Asotel, one of three publicly-funded telecommunications groups in Venezuela has take on DW’s Spanish-language channel – which is already available on 22 different channels in 15 regions. This means that it is available to more than 100,000 new households in the county. Asotel will also be broadcasting DW’s German-language channel in touristic regions in the future.

Individual programs like Enlaces, Global 3000, Cultura 21, En forma and Visión Futuro have been integrated into the lineup from Vale TV – a private channel that is broadcast nationwide. And Cable Hogar is broadcasting DW’s Spanish-language channel in the Valencia region and will be spreading out to Caracas soon.

Europe
With TransTeleKom (TTK), DW has joined forces with one of the five largest telecommunications companies in Russia. TTK and has been broadcasting DW’s television channel for Europe as part of its basic package since May 1, making it available to more than 300,000 households throughout the country. TTK has one of the largest fiber-optic cable networks in Russia and provides service to more than 1.7 million households.

Asia
DW’s main English channel is now being broadcast by another partner in Thailand – the IPTV provider Me-TV. It is subsidiary of Telecom of Thailand (TOT) and will make DW available to another 100,000 households throughout the country. Me-TV plans on expanding to more than 150 IPTV channels in the future – 70 percent of which will be free of charge, including DW.

DW is now also available in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on the DVB-T platform created by Partner Royal Media Entertainment Corporation. The organization plans on expanding quickly in the future.

Asia

DW has a new partner for digital television in Malaysia. Asian Broadcasting Network (ABN) started broadcasting DW in February. The digital cable provider has around 500 channels and is working on becoming Malaysia’s second largest digital TV provider. They are trying to acquire 500,000 customers by the end of the year.

DW is also now available around the clock in Tokyo with NEW IT Venture (NITV). The newly-founded Japanese IPTV provider will be broadcasting DW programming in English.

In Pakistan, DW’s English TV channel is now being offered in the Sindh province. DW recently signed an agreement with Orient Multimedia Cable Network und Sky Cable TV Network.

 

Europe

DW has expanded its online presence in the Ukraine by acquiring a new premium partner. DW content has been available on Ukr.Pravda since February 23. The website features news and information in Russian and Ukrainian and receives approximately 260,000 visits each day. It is currently second in the “News & Media” category from LiveInternet.ru. DW content – including full-length articles and links – can be found in a special section for international mass media on Ukr.Pravda. All articles appear with the DW logo and are prominently promoted on the homepage.