About Franken Fernsehen

Franken Fernsehen

Franken Fernsehen is a private regional television channel for the Nuremberg–Fürth–Erlangen metropolitan area and Middle Franconia in northern Bavaria. Broadcasting from studios in Nuremberg's Südwestpark, the channel produces around two hours of original programming daily — local news, reports and magazines — airing in a 30-minute weekday window on RTL as well as on its own 24-hour channel via cable, satellite and streaming. Its roots go back to 1992, with the licensed channel dating de jure to 28 February 1994 and de facto to 1 November 1995.

Overview

Franken Fernsehen (formerly Franken TV) is the television service for Franconia's economic and cultural centre. Its programme type is metropolitan-area television (Ballungsraumfernsehen), licensed by the Bavarian media authority BLM. With a team of about 40 staff, the channel produces roughly two hours of programming per day, centred on current news, reportage and magazine formats for Middle Franconia and the Neumarkt area.

Reception is via cable networks, satellite (Astra), the Deutsche Telekom MagentaTV platform (since 4 November 2013), antenna in the local RTL window, and livestream. The digital terrestrial (DVB-T) operation was discontinued on 31 May 2014.

History

The station's origins lie in the early-1990s reorganisation of local television in Nuremberg. On 21 September 1988, two channels (RTL and Sat.1) had begun broadcasting from Nuremberg's telecommunications tower, initially with a transmission gap filled by a test pattern between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m., reserved for regional providers. A transitional half-hour magazine, Bayern Aktuell, aired from 2 November 1990.

Entrepreneur Straube applied for the local RTL programme window and won the licence in 1991. For his production company Franken Funk und Fernsehen GmbH he built a new office and studio complex and assembled a team for a 30-minute programme that aired from July 1992 as "Drehscheibe Franken" between 6 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. Presenters were partly recruited from local private radio stations — the first "Drehscheibe" presenter Bianca Bauer-Stadler came from Radio Charivari, as did Franconian cabaret artist Herbert Beck, whose opening question "Sekt oder Selters?" (champagne or sparkling water?) became famous through his show Play Beck.

In February 1994 the operation received its own full-frequency licence (de jure sendestart: 28 February 1994). Straube founded the channel Franken-Fernsehen together with Hans Rudolf Wöhrl, managing director of the Nuremberg department-store chain Wöhrl, under the umbrella of the Gesellschaft Neue Medien Franken. The "Drehscheibe" aired in early-evening primetime on both slots in parallel; the late edition and other programmes aired on the station's own full frequency together with the teletext-style "Franken Zeitung" text service. The de facto launch of the full service followed on 1 November 1995.

An earlier incarnation, FF Franken Fernsehen, is recorded as operating from 27 February 1994 to 2002, after which the current Franken Fernsehen organisation continued the service.

Programming

The daily output of roughly two hours comprises:

• Franken Fernsehen Nachrichten: the news programme, launching the in-house schedule at 1 p.m. daily and repeated in updated, expanded form at 6 p.m.
• Reportagen and Magazinsendungen: reports and magazine formats covering Franconian politics, business, culture and sport.
• The weekday 30-minute local window on RTL, giving the channel access to the large RTL audience in the region.
• Outside in-house production hours, the 24-hour frequency has carried sustaining programming (at times supplied by the teleshopping channel Channel 21).

The channel's newsroom in the Nürnberger Südwestpark functions as the editorial hub for the metropolitan region, with reporters covering Nuremberg, Fürth, Erlangen and the surrounding Middle Franconian districts.

Coverage & Audience

Franken Fernsehen's broadcast area is the Nuremberg–Fürth–Erlangen conurbation and Middle Franconia, one of Bavaria's most populous and economically dynamic regions. It is available on its own 24-hour frequency via cable and satellite (Astra), in the weekday RTL regional window via antenna, cable and satellite, on MagentaTV, and via livestream. Its audience is the Franconian regional public — viewers seeking news from their immediate environment that national and even state-wide channels do not provide.

Ownership

The channel is operated by TVF Fernsehen in Franken Programm GmbH, based in Nuremberg. Management has included Helge Maaß in the managing-director role. The licensing authority is the BLM (Bayerische Landeszentrale für neue Medien).

Digital Presence

Franken Fernsehen operates a website (frankenfernsehen.tv, per Wikipedia's listing; not independently load-verified for this profile) with a livestream and on-demand access to its news and magazine programmes. The channel distributes clips via YouTube and social media, and its schedule appears in electronic programme guides. The RTL window gives it additional visibility in national TV listings.

Market Position

Franken Fernsehen is part of Bavaria's dense landscape of licensed local television, operating alongside the BR's Franconian regional programming (notably the Frankenschau on BR Fernsehen Nord from the BR Studio Franken in Nuremberg) and the region's newspapers (Nürnberger Nachrichten, Fürther Nachrichten). Its dual distribution — a mass-reach window on RTL plus a dedicated 24-hour channel — is characteristic of German metropolitan TV economics: the RTL window delivers audience scale for regional advertising, while the own-frequency channel provides the full local identity. With roots stretching back to the 1992 "Drehscheibe Franken," it is among the longest-established private regional TV services in Bavaria.

The RTL Window Model

The weekday 30-minute window on RTL is the economic cornerstone of Franken Fernsehen and of Bavarian local television generally. Under the Bavarian Media Act, regional licensees are granted daily windows in RTL's schedule — typically the 6 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. slot — which they fill with their own regional magazines. For the viewer, this means the national RTL programme is interrupted for half an hour of Franconian news; for the broadcaster, it means access to RTL's substantial audience share in the region at the moment of highest regional-news demand.

Franken Fernsehen's history shows how valuable — and how contested — these windows are. The original "Drehscheibe Franken" was created specifically for the RTL window in 1992, and the award of the station's own full frequency in February 1994 (through the Gesellschaft Neue Medien Franken, co-founded with department-store magnate Hans Rudolf Wöhrl) gave the operation a second, round-the-clock outlet. The combination has endured for three decades: the window for reach, the own channel for identity.

Nuremberg's media market supports this model. As the economic centre of Franconia — home to Siemens, Adidas and Puma in nearby Herzogenaurach, Datev, Nuremberg Airport and the NürnbergMesse trade fairs — the metropolitan region generates the business-to-business and consumer advertising demand that funds local television. The channel's Südwestpark studios place it at the heart of one of southern Germany's major media and business parks. The station's daily 1 p.m. newscast and its updated 6 p.m. edition give Franconian viewers two fixed points of regional news each day, complemented by the RTL window's half hour — a schedule density that reflects the channel's dual role as both window provider and full-channel operator. The early "Drehscheibe Franken" era, with presenters crossing over from local radio and Herbert Beck's celebrated "Sekt oder Selters?" opener, remains part of Franconian broadcasting folklore and a reminder of how personality-driven the region's television has always been. That tradition of strong on-air personalities continues to shape the channel's appeal to its Franconian audience today. From the 1992 "Drehscheibe" to the current 24-hour service, Franken Fernsehen's three decades of continuous regional broadcasting make it a cornerstone of northern Bavaria's media landscape.