Welt (TV channel)
Welt is a German free-to-air television news channel owned by WeltN24 GmbH, itself a subsidiary of Axel Springer SE.
On 21 September 2017, WeltN24 announced that N24 would be rebranded as "Welt" on 18 January 2018. WeltN24 also publishes Die Welt, a conservative-leaning newspaper.
History
In the late 1990s, in the heat of the dot-com bubble ProSieben Media Group, then consisting of two TV channels whose programming largely consisted of US movies, sitcoms and series, tried to take over German television news channel n-tv, then owned by Handelsblatt and CNN. After the attempt failed, ProSieben Media purchased German newswire ddp and announced the launch of its own news channel soon afterwards, by consolidating ProSieben's news department. The channel was launched on 24 January 2000 at noon, from ProSieben Media's headquarters in Unterföhring near Munich. In collaboration with Bloomberg Television, N24 provided live coverage of financial markets around the world. Apart from running its own network, Welt also provided ProSieben and Kabel 1 with newscasts.In the same year, ProSieben Media AG purchased rival channel Sat.1, located in Berlin, which had a news department of its own and ran a number of factual programmes. ProSieben Media AG renamed itself ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG. After the merger, N24 moved from Unterföhring to Sat.1's headquarters in Berlin in July 2001, and the news departments of Sat.1 and N24 were combined.
In 2002, ProSiebenSat.1's majority owner, KirchMedia, filed for bankruptcy. While ProSiebenSat.1 itself was not broke, an extended search for a buyer, during which ProSiebenSat.1 was effectively owned by KirchMedia's banks, created uncertainty at the company. This combined with the market crisis after the end of the dotcom bubble and 9/11, caused ProSiebenSat.1 to cut costs. It replaced a number of newscasts on N24, especially in the afternoons, the evenings and on the weekends, with cheaper documentaries. Business and stock market coverage was also cut dramatically, and remaining business reports were bought from CNBC Europe instead of producing them in-house. The reports featured CNBC's proprietary graphics. In 2007, N24 strengthened its business coverage, introducing daily programmes such as Börse am Mittag and Börse am Abend . The channel moved its headquarters in October 2008.
In 2008, ProSiebenSat.1 sold its property in Berlin and announced that Sat.1 would move to Unterföhring, where ProSieben and Kabel 1 were already based. N24 would relocate within Berlin. In 2010, ProSiebenSat.1 sold N24 to a group of private investors, led by former Der Spiegel editor Stefan Aust. N24 was contracted by ProSiebenSat.1 to continue providing Sat.1, ProSieben and Kabel 1 with newscasts at least until 2016. In 2013, N24 was acquired by Axel Springer SE and combined with Die Welt to form WeltN24.
On 17 September 2016, a sister channel called N24 Doku launched free to air, which is a one-hour delayed timeshift channel of Welt in the afternoon and replaces some news broadcasts by documentaries in the morning.
In early 2024, following the loss of contracts to supply Pro7Sat1 properties with news and the closure of Bild TV, changes were made to the programming lineup. These included less news at weekends and more sport.
Programming
Welt runs news on the hour, every hour.Welt previously broadcast a variety of programming, with more than seven hours of live programming per business day. CNBC correspondents Silvia Wadhwa, Patricia Szarvas, Roland Klaus, Michael Mross and Bruni Schubert reported live from the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, the LSE and the NYSE throughout the day.
Anchors and reporters
- Fanny Fee Werther
- Pia Ampaw
- Robert Annetzberger
- Dietmar Deffner
- Marc Dickgreber
- Ralf Finke
- Michel Friedman
- Astrid Frohloff
- Petra Glinski
- Ilka Groenewold
- Hans-Hermann Gockel
- Carsten Hädler
- Hans-Peter Hagemes
- Alexandra Karle
- Andrea Kempter
- Thomas Klug
- Dieter Kronzucker
- Peter Limbourg
- Michaela Mey
- Wenzel Michalski
- Tatjana Ohm
- Florian Otto
- Gaby Papenburg
- Petra Papke
- Inge Posmyk
- Milena Preradovic
- Alexander Privitera
- Christina Prüver
- Julia Scherf
- Katrin Sandmann
- Sandra Schiffauer
- Hajo Schumacher
- Thomas Schwarzer
- Steffen Schwarzkopf
- Alexander Simon
- Thomas Spahn
- Stephan Strothe
- Claus Strunz
- Bruder Paulus Terwitte
- Hans-Hermann Tiedje
- Marcus Tychsen
- Claudia von Brauchitsch
- Alexander von Roon
- Verena Wriedt