Archive notice: This article was originally published on December 29, 2007. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
The most-watched programme of the year on Sat.1 was “Champions TV” with the match Bayern Munich against Real Madrid. The live football broadcast from the UEFA Champions League achieved a market share of 30.4 percent in March of this year. Other ratings highlights were the US series “Navy CIS” (up to 19.8 percent) and “Criminal Minds” (up to 17.7 percent), feature films such as “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” (30.2 percent) “The Terminal” (21.1 percent) and “The Polar Express” (20.3 percent), and the in-house production “The Mysterious Treasure of Troy” (up to 17.7 percent). In the show segment, among others, “Every Child Knows That!” (up to 22.5 percent), “Direct Hit! Battleships XXL” (19.0 percent) and “Now We’re Holing Out!” (15.8 percent) won over viewers.
In prime time on Sunday evening, the aforementioned US series were once again able to hold their own against the strongest blockbuster competition from other channels. On Monday, the fixed schedule with US feature films proved itself. The first-broadcast run of Tuesday TV movies in the autumn increased its average market share by 1.2 percentage points year on year to 13 percent. In daytime (Mon-Fri), extending “Sat.1 Breakfast Television” by one hour until 10 a.m. proved successful: The programme achieved an average market share of 17.1 percent. Both in the morning (9 a.m.-1 p.m.), with an average of 12.2 percent, and in the afternoon (1-5 p.m.), with 14.6 percent, the weekday formats performed clearly above the channel average.
New features and programme highlights in 2008 include the documentary series “The Rip-Off Artists – These Are Their Tricks!” (from January), 24 new TV movies, the second season of the series “GSG 9” and the casting show “Me Tarzan, You Jane!” (each from February), the knockout rounds and final matches of the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Cup (February to May), the new series “Dr. med. Molly” (working title) and the two-part event “We Are the People – Love Knows No Borders” (in the autumn), as well as new episodes of “Only Love Counts”, six major game-show evenings and the continuation of the popular “Now It’s”-event shows with Hugo Egon Balder and Hella von Sinnen.
In addition, the channel is showing feature-film hits such as “Meet the Fockers”, “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe”, “Flightplan”, “The Wild Soccer Bunch 3” and “The White Massai” as free-TV premieres.
Sat.1 is not only offering plenty of fresh programming in 2008. It is also being repackaged. At the end of January, the Berlin broadcaster will put a new channel design and a new claim on air.
