Peter Limbourg, Director General of Deutsche Welle
AIB member Deutsche Welle has partnered with Israeli Russian-language station Channel 9, which has the widest reach of any Russian-language TV station outside Russia. DW hopes the new partnership will enable it to target a large number of programs to a new international audience.
Channel 9 is receivable in Israel, as well as in Germany, Canada, the US and Australia, via cable or satellite networks.
Alexander Levin, majority owner of Channel 9, and representatives of DW have agreed in Bonn that, starting immediately, several formats will be adopted into the programming of Channel 9, among them the successful culture magazine Arts.21, the lifestyle show Euromaxx Highlights, the science series Tomorrow Today and the globalisation magazine Global 3000.
The agreement also includes the use of DW articles and news on Channel 9’s online portal.
Channel 9 had been owned by Africa-Israel Investments (AFI Group) until February 2013, when company head Lev Leviev sold his stake in the network to partner Alexander Levin for $6.5 million. The company had often operated at a loss and been bogged down in several legal disputes. Levin relocated from Russia to Israel in order to take control of the station. One of his stated goals had been to expand Channel 9’s offering to Russian speakers outside of Israel.
DW Director General Peter Limbourg welcomed the cooperation as an important step towards free reporting in Russian. “We shall benefit by having Channel 9 as our partner, which, just like DW, stands for independent journalism. We want to expand this cooperation still further in the future.”
Alexander Levin stressed the importance of this partnership for both parties. “Like DW, Channel 9 attaches the highest significance to a free, pluralistic reporting of political affairs. In view of the growing influence from politics on the Russian media, this is becoming for us increasingly a unique selling point.”