| ChannelD: Satellite TV in German | |
| Finally 'real' German TV in America! | |
Update: On September 1, 2001 the German digital satellite TV broadcaster ChannelD began offering programming in the U.S. beamed directly from Germany. A year later, ChannelD was out of business. The satellite broadcaster filed for bankruptcy with a Bremen court on Oct. 4, 2002. With only about 1,000 subscribers, ChannelD was not economically viable. Its public TV competitor, German TV (Deutsche Welle) temporarily provided programming for ChannelD customers for two months, at which time they had to switch over to German TV or lose their programming.
If you want to learn some of the reasons for ChannelD's failure, read my earlier assessment of the satellite service below. - Note: You can still get German television programming in North America via German TV from Deutsche Welle. For details, see this article about my own German TV experiences: Adventures with German TV in the U.S.
Original Article from 2001:
The good news is that at long last it is now possible to receive German TV shows in the Americas—North, Central and South—via digital satellite. The bad news is that most potential viewers have to buy special equipment and pay a monthly fee to receive ChannelD's broadcasts. If you already have DirecTV or DISH Network (Echostar), neither system carries (the now defunct) ChannelD's signal. (But see our German TV update.)
At its start ChannelD had no toll-free 800-number (coming soon, they say), no functioning North American Web site (also promised) and did not make it very easy for customers to subscribe and get set up. While the German ChannelD Web site provides technical specifications and a rather sketchy program guide, it failed to provide even a hint of pricing information (now available), list any equipment sources/dealers or even offer online subscriptions (but you'll find costs and more in this article; also see our more recent German TV article.). - Now let's talk more about the good news...
Viewers in North America
can receive ChannelD
using a 28-in (70-cm) diameter
dish (on the right) with a
special digital card and receiver.
Pictured is ChannelD director
Jürgen Grobbin.
Foto: ChannelD
Viewers in the United States, Canada, Mexico and Central America now have an attractive alternative to the current Deutsche Welle satellite TV and radio broadcasts (which use different satellites than ChannelD). What's more, ChannelD GmbH, with headquarters in Bremerhaven and U.S. offices in southern California, is offering a selection of “real” German television entertainment plus two audio channels with Schlager and other German music. A daily six-hour block of popular German TV programs, including the ARD crime show “Tatort,” the talk show “Maischberger” (n-tv), the cop show ”Der Bulle von Tölz” (SAT.1) and short news broadcasts (text and voice only), is beamed to viewers in Amerika from an uplink in Bavaria via the GE4 satellite (101° west, Ku-band). Each six-hour block airs four times in a 24-hour period, allowing viewers in all North American time zones to watch at a convenient hour.
ChannelD: Deutsches Fernsehen & Radio in Amerika. Fernsehfilme, die besten Serien, die spannendsten “Tatorte”, Musik und die beste Unterhaltung, Sport, Bundesliga, Informationen, die schönsten deutschen Landschaften, Interviews und vieles mehr! - From a ChannelD ad
ChannelD began test broadcasts on August 1, 2001 and offers a “best-of” selection from German commercial and public TV broadcasters. While Deutsche Welle (DW) has long offered a good array of news and information in German and other languages, ChannelD wants to present a cross-section of the actual television entertainment that German viewers watch: TV series, movies, animal shows, talk shows, sports, etc. — in German. Unlike DW, ChannelD offers viewers outside of Germany a sampling of the original TV fare that Germans actually watch from week to week. But while DW is free, analog and available via cable as well as satellite, ChannelD is a pay TV service that can only be received via a digital satellite signal. (Note: DW now offers its own German pay-TV service in cooperation with ARD/ZDF. More in our newer German TV article.)
Next: ChannelD's costs and other details.
Also see: Adventures with German TV in the U.S.
> 1: ChannelD
> 2: More ChannelD
> 3: ChannelD Suggestions
> 4: GERMAN TV in the U.S.
> 5: German Sat TV Links
German Newsletters
Subscribe to a free newsletter!
OUR GERMAN FORUMS