New German TV channels get licences

Germany's national media commission ZAK has granted broadcast licences to the new TV channels Glitz and pearl.tv. Glitz mainly targets women with movies, series, documentaries and original productions covering interior design, lifestyle, cooking and country life. The pay TV service, which will be offered in standard resolution and in high-definition, will launch on 8 May 2012. Parent company Turner Broadcasting System Deutschland (TBS) has already signed a carriage deal for the new channel with Germany's leading cable operator Kabel Deutschland while carriage negotiations are underway with further platform operators. After TNT Film, TNT Serie, Cartoon Network and Boomerang, Glitz will be the fifth pay-TV channel operated by the subsidiary of US media company Time Warner in Germany. The second licensed TV broadcaster, pearl.tv, will launch on 1 March 2012. The teleshopping channel, which is backed by retail house Pearl and the EnStyle studios, will transmit as a digital free-to-air service on Astra (19.2° East). The channel plans to air a 24-hour service of which up to 8 hours will be transmitted live per day. Its celebrity hosts include home-shopping presenter Walter Freiwald (formerly working for RTL) and the current Miss Germany Anne-Kathrin Kosch.