GERMAN CHILDREN’S CHANNEL KIDS GATE GAINS REGULATORY APPROVAL

Kids Gate, the children’s channel planned by Jochen Krohne, the former managing director of Munich-based commercial television channel TM3, has overcome its last regulatory hurdle.

The federal anti media concentration commission Kommission zur Ermittlung der Konzentration im Medienbereich (KEK) has decided at its latest meeting in Potsdam to grant the green light to the digital pay-TV service.

Kids Gate, which is going to be operated by Krohne’s Munich-based television production company Get on Air, will transmit both to DTH homes via satellite and on cable networks.

According to KEK, Krohne aims to work out agreements with the new owners of Deutsche Telekom’s former cable networks to include his channel into bundled pay-TV cable packages. Kids Gate, which will mainly screen cartoon movies and series, targets young viewers aged between 3 and 14 years. Earlier, the directors’ conference of the 15 local media authorities approved the channel.