Deutsche Welle: On the air

Abstract

Individuals, organisations and governments use the Internet for a wide range of activities. As part of the booming Web scene in Germany more and more radio and tv stations looking for new audiences and publicity go on-line in addition to their traditional program branches. The major goal for radio and TV stations to be on the air is to improve their information capabilities and to get a faster, more flexible (interactive) and closer contact with their audience in the preparation, transmission and follow-up treatment of their programs. Founded in 1953, the Deutsche Welle, Germany's international broadcasting service with radio and television programs, has been on the Internet since the end of 1994, with a program in the World Wide Web (WWW). The management of Deutsche Welle decided to enter the game as fast as possible as with other broadcasting companies such as the ‘BBC’ and the ‘Voice of America’ with a similar mission as Deutsche Welle had already started on the Internet as information and program providers. As the World Wide Web is by far the most popular and most frequently used information service on the Internet today and as it starts to become a synonym for the Internet, this was felt an ideal starter application. The solution wanted should meet strict security requirements and different quality characteristics like scalability, extendibility and migration possibilities and the financial risks for the company should be minimised. This paper gives an overview on the activities of German broadcasting companies on the Web and describes GMD's experiences in bringing the Deutsche Welle (DW) to the Internet. DW's decision to rely on two external co-operation partners speeded up the process and minimised the risks and costs for the Deutsche Welle. It became obvious that WWW is not enough for an international broadcaster and that an integration of different value-added services like electronic mail (E-mail), FTP and WAIS is urgently needed to fulfil the needs of a broadcaster and its audience. A guaranteed quality of service level and a secure access to Internet was as crucial since the service start as statistics.