Archive notice: This article was originally published on November 17, 2008. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
BonoTV is becoming “telebono.” Germany’s first private broadcaster for people in the second half of life begins production today, with broadcasting expected to start in spring 2009.
After the North Rhine-Westphalia Media Authority (LfM) had already given the green light, telebono has now received its nationwide license from the Commission on Licensing and Supervision (ZAK). The new full-service private broadcaster will be based in Cologne. Its shareholders include Cologne television producer and presenter Max Schautzer; Bonn-based BEST Broadcast Entertainment Sports Television AG; advertising entrepreneur Sven Eggert; the Eggert Group, one of Germany’s leading agencies; and media expert Dr. Jens Ochel.
telebono is not senior television, but a high-quality television service for viewers aged 40 and over, presented from the perspective of older adults. It is also intended to promote dialogue between generations. The broadcaster is expected to be carried on German cable networks and received via ASTRA satellite and the internet. North Rhine-Westphalia Minister-President Jürgen Rüttgers expressly welcomed the broadcaster’s launch at the 2008 Innovation Congress in Bonn on Thursday.
Max Schautzer, telebono’s initiator and founding shareholder, said: “I am pleased to note that our business and programming concept has received positive approval from those responsible in supervisory and licensing bodies as well as political committees. We will now begin the gradual establishment and expansion of our programming. With a small team of first-rate creative television professionals, we intend to build an attractive full-service schedule tailored to the specific needs of a target group that television has so far neglected.
“With a mixture of entertainment, service and information, we also want to offer advertisers a highly attractive programming environment for messages tailored to the target group. Choosing Cologne as telebono’s location once again underscores North Rhine-Westphalia’s importance as Germany’s leading media center.”
Further Links:
- More information
