A TV service that can be received with a DMB (Digital Multimedia Broadcasting) cell phone will be launched in June under the name "Watcha". The service can be used in Stuttgart, Berlin, Cologne, Frankfurt and Munich, with further cities and regions to be added by mid-June. The Düsseldorf-based platform operator Mobiles Fernsehen Deutschland GmbH (MFD) is behind "Watcha". It has succeeded in obtaining a DMB license for almost all federal states. The TV channels include ZDF, MTV and N24, as well as an entertainment channel specially produced for cell phones by Pro Sieben and Sat.1. In 2007, the mobile phone provider Debitel plans to expand the offer to such an extent that three quarters of the German population will be able to receive cell phone television using the DMB standard. Other channels are also to follow soon. There is currently only one cell phone on the market in Germany that is DMB-capable.
DMB-based mobile TV has become established in South Korea, for example. However, Nokia and Sony Ericsson rely on the competing mobile TV standard DVB-H (Digital Video Broadcasting - Handheld). The four major German mobile operators, Vodafone, T-Mobile, E-Plus and O2, also rely on DVB-H because the standard enables a larger number of television programs. The joint mobile TV pilot project was launched on Monday with 16 television channels. Due to the scarcity of suitable frequencies, DVB-H broadcasts are almost only received in northern Germany. There are no tenders for the frequencies yet, DVB-H is not due to be launched on the market for customers until 2007. 

The Cash platform's free daily newspaper, Cash daily, is to be launched in September, publisher Michael Ringier announced at the Hamburger Dialog media congress. Cash daily will be available as a print edition and online e-paper. The content would appear on the computer screen like a three-dimensional newspaper whose pages can be turned. Audio and video contributions would supplement the articles. As the trade journal Werben und Verkaufen writes in its online edition, Ringier is also considering publication on electronic paper in the medium term (Werbewoche reported). Ringier also announced its intention to launch a women's magazine in Shanghai. Ringier has announced more information on the Cash daily project for June 9, 2006.

Gerhard Zeiler, CEO of RTL Group, spoke to MEPs in Brussels on Wednesday in favor of more flexible advertising regulations on television. As reported by newsroom.de, he called for shorter but more frequent commercial breaks. Such a solution would make it possible, for example, to circumvent technical possibilities for automatically recognizing longer advertising blocks. The advertising industry is also a prerequisite for a free television program, Zeiler continued. Furthermore, no one tells newspapers or magazines on which pages they should place advertisements.

The Anzeiger Region Bern has entered into a partnership with Publiconnect, a subsidiary of Publicitas, and has put its marketplace solution into operation. The new online marketplace, where print ads can also be placed, was implemented and launched in parallel with the redesign of the Anzeiger Region Bern website.

Model Claudia Schiffer will soon be hanging in three subway stations in London, New York and Tokyo. With countless posters, she is to awaken the desire for Germany in June and July. According to a report by the news agency SDA, apart from Schiffer, nothing else will be visible in the stations for four weeks. Further information will follow on Whit Monday at a press conference for the "Land of Ideas" location campaign in London. The motifs for the World Cup campaign "Station Domination" will also be shown there.

The Europrix Top Talent Award (TTA) honors young creatives in the field of e-content and design. The deadline for this year's competition is June 30. According to a press release, the aim of the award is to promote young talents from all over Europe and to create a transnational platform for the best European multimedia projects. Awards will be presented in eight categories as well as three special prizes - with a total value of 80,000 euros.

Art-tv.ch has been broadcasting videos on cultural topics on the Internet for two years. In the meantime, the web TV has over half a million hits per month. Specialists package theater premieres, film reviews or exhibition reviews in three to four-minute video contributions - until now, only the expenses of the employees were reimbursed. However, a contribution from the Volkart Foundation is now set to change this, according to a press release.
When the website was launched two years ago, the initiator Felix Schenker invested around CHF 50,000 in the project. Art-tv.ch is now organized as an association and is supported by members and patrons. The patronage committee includes celebrities such as Pipilotti Rist, Gilles Tschudi and Ellen Ringier. Art-tv.ch has been presenting the "Swiss Cultural Pearls" award for a year now. Regionalization is also to be continued - a start has been made with the Basel cultural region.

The Baselbieter local station "NW1" is no longer broadcasting current affairs programs until further notice. On Thursday evening, the news presenter described the program as the "last current one for the time being", reports the news agency SDA. In future, already produced programs will flicker across the screen instead. No further details about the fate of "NW1" are known. According to Corinna Zigerli, no one has been made redundant. She blamed the situation on the fact that, due to the circumstances, it was difficult to keep enough staff together to produce current programs. The working group, which is looking for ideas to preserve the station, has meanwhile completed a concept proposal. This is to be discussed with the main shareholder, Elektra Birseck Müchenstein (EBM), after Whitsun. If no solution is found, the station could be closed at the end of June.

From July 3, Swiss Television (SF) will switch to summer mode. The "summer program" will run until 20 August and will feature new in-house productions and purchases, as well as reruns and special programs on current events. According to SF, the program will cater to the special needs of the audience during the summer and vacation season.
New in-house productions will include a series of "DOK" films, "SF Spezial" and "Kulturplatz" programs and a "Junior Sommerquiz" for school classes. "Best of" programs are planned with "Benissimo spezial", "Fensterplatz Sommertour" and "Reporter Sélection". Repeats of "Sternstunde Philosophie" and "Al dente", for example, will also be broadcast.
Feature films are programmed in seven thematic series, which should guarantee a "colorful, varied feature film summer". SF also has high hopes for the "Summer Comedies" series, which will see stars such as Margrit Rainer and Ruedi Walter return. The series program has also been expanded and reruns of "Lüthi und Blanc" are also on the schedule.
SF will be there for current events with special broadcasts: on August 1, at the Grand Prix of Folk Music, at the opening of the Lucerne Festival and at the St. Gallen and Gurten open airs. Sports highlights include the final of the football World Cup, the tennis tournament at Wimbledon and the Tour de France.

Heidelberg Switzerland, the solution provider for the print media industry, is holding its traditional Open House between June 14 and 17. Under the motto "Discover more. Solutions for your future." the Bern-based company will be showcasing its range of products and services and organizing presentations on networking with Prinect. Heidelberg's partners will also be presenting their products at the Open House. On the Family Day, younger guests will also have plenty to discover under supervision. Further information on the event and registration can be found on the Heidelberg website.

U1 TV's free magazine, FreeTV, will no longer be published daily but on a weekly basis due to the upcoming holidays, the World Cup and the summer vacation. Until the end of August, FreeTV will be available fresh in the boxes every Monday.

New sources of revenue such as the Internet, ancillary businesses and foreign activities are becoming increasingly important for magazine and newspaper publishers. Their share of total sales is expected to more than double from the current 12 percent to 25 percent over the next three years. This is according to the study "Growth areas for publishers" by the Association of German Magazine Publishers (VDZ). The share of Internet sales is expected to rise from the current 4.6 percent to 11.6 percent by 2009, while the share of mobile services is expected to increase from 0.2 to 2.0 percent. One fifth of publishers already have concrete plans for Internet TV. However, the international sector also holds potential for growth: according to the survey, more than half of publishers are already active internationally. In terms of ancillary business, two thirds of publishers currently offer books, CDs or DVDs, but see little potential for future growth in the area of so-called publishing-related additional products and services.
A total of 60 publishers (21 consumer magazine publishers, 33 trade magazine publishers and six newspaper publishers) were surveyed for the study by VDZ in collaboration with the consulting firm KPMG and Prof. Dr. Manfred Schweiger from Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich on the relevance, sustainability and success factors of growth areas and their impact on the core business.