BOOM IN GERMAN TRAVEL CHANNELS

TV Travel Shop Germany launched on June 1 15.30 CET to a broad analogue DTH community in German-speaking Europe equivalent to more than 13 million homes. The channel, which transmits 24 hours a day, uses transponder 56 (10.818 GHz V) on Astra (19.2 degrees East) and is accompanied by both a teletext service and an Internet presence on http://www.tvtravelshop.de. It is a joint-venture between its parent company TV Travel Shop UK and Hannover-based TUI, Europe’s largest travel company.

In a separate development, Via1 – Schoner Reisen has announced that it will become available in analogue on Astra (19.2 degrees East) this summer. According to Gunther Holzschuh, the managing director of the Hamburg-based travel channel, its shareholders are currently clarifying the outstanding financial details, which are due to be finalised within the next two months. “Then the analogue launch can take place on very short notice,” he outlined.

Via1, which was launched on March 1, 2000, is so far only available to digital homes, satellite viewers on Astra and cable households as part of Deutsche Telekom’s MediaVision platform. To gain access to analogue homes, a daily two-hour Via1 window will launch on analogue the teleshopping channel RTL Shop at the beginning of this month. Interspace understands that Via1’s analogue plans are a reaction to the threat from recently launched competitor TV Travel Shop, which has been available to the broad analogue community since day one.