About Passau Magazin

Passau Magazin

Passau Magazin — today appearing as the NIEDERBAYERN TV Magazin — is the free quarterly regional magazine for Lower Bavaria, published by the regional television broadcaster Niederbayern TV. In the handy A4 format with a high-quality glossy cover, it is available free of charge at public display points across Lower Bavaria: in Passau, Deggendorf, Straubing, Landshut and their surroundings. The magazine shows the making-ofs of the TV station's programmes, informs about current affairs from the regions and draws on the "tip box of Lower Bavarian quality of life." Issue 28 appeared in September 2026; the motto: "Heimat ist nicht der Ort, an dem man geboren wurde. Heimat bedarf keiner Definition, denn – Heimat ist ein Gefühl."

Overview

The NIEDERBAYERN TV Magazin is a quarterly German-language regional magazine, published by Niederbayern TV — the regional television broadcaster formed by the merger of the Lower Bavarian local stations, describing itself as the first regional broadcaster founded in Bavaria. The magazine appears quarterly with new topics: issue 26 on 16 March 2026, issue 27 on 15 June, issue 28 on 14 September, issue 29 on 16 November. The A4 format with the glossy cover is laid out free to take away at the public display points — the magazine's distribution is the free-takeaway model at the region's public contact points. The programme: the backgrounds and making-ofs of the TV programmes, the current affairs from the regions, the Lower Bavarian quality-of-life tips. The making-ofs give the viewers the behind-the-scenes: the productions that the region watches, the presenters it knows, the stories behind the broadcasts — the television made transparent. The regional current affairs give the magazine its journalistic weight: the Passau city politics, the Deggendorf economy, the Straubing culture, the Landshut society — the region's news in the quarterly depth that the daily TV news cannot provide. The quality-of-life tips give the magazine its service: the "Tipp-Kiste" — the excursion destinations, the restaurants, the festivals, the regional products that make Lower Bavaria liveable. The September 2026 issue's Wimbledon-style tennis narrative — the "Matchball Reisach" finalist on the centre court, the champagne cork behind him — shows the magazine's storytelling: the regional magazine with the national-style sports drama. The newsletter keeps the readers updated between the quarterly issues. The media data are available for download for the advertisers.

History

The magazine's history is Niederbayern TV's history: the merger ("Zusammenschluss zu NIEDERBAYERN TV") of the Lower Bavarian local television stations into the regional broadcaster — the first regional broadcaster founded in Bavaria. The Bavarian local-TV landscape's consolidation — the small city stations merging into the regional broadcaster — is the German regional television's story: the Passau, Deggendorf, Straubing and Landshut stations joining forces for the regional programme. The TV magazine extends the broadcaster's brand into print: the making-ofs of the TV programmes as the magazine's core, the regional current affairs as the journalistic programme, the quality-of-life tips as the service. The passau-magazin.de domain — the row's "Passau Magazin" — now carries the Niederbayern TV Magazin: the Passau city magazine's domain became the regional broadcaster's magazine portal, the city's magazine integrated into the region's television. The quarterly rhythm — March, June, September, November — gives the magazine the seasonal structure: the spring, summer, autumn and pre-Christmas issues. The 28 issues by September 2026 document the magazine's seven-year run: the regional TV magazine that the Lower Bavarians take home free from the display points. The broadcaster's regional identity — "Heimat ist ein Gefühl" — is the magazine's editorial line: the homeland as the feeling, not the birthplace.

Coverage and Content

The magazine's programme is Lower Bavaria's television and life. The TV making-ofs: the backgrounds of the Niederbayern TV programmes — the productions, the presenters, the stories behind the broadcasts. The regional current affairs: the news from Passau, Deggendorf, Straubing, Landshut and their surroundings — the region's politics, economy, culture. The quality-of-life tips: the "Tipp-Kiste niederbayerischer Lebensqualität" — the restaurants, the excursions, the events, the regional products. The storytelling: the September 2026 issue's tennis final narrative — the "Matchball Reisach" with the 15,000-seat arena, the 4.2-million-euro winner's prize, the champagne cork — shows the magazine's narrative journalism: the regional magazine telling the universal sports drama. The leaf catalogue (Blätterkatalog) makes the issues browsable online. The display points — the public places across Lower Bavaria — are the distribution: the magazine where the people are. The newsletter extends the quarterly rhythm into the digital continuity.

As a cross-media brand extension, the magazine follows a pattern common in German regional media: broadcasters extending their brands into print to deepen audience loyalty between broadcasts. The making-of format is the genre's signature — the television made transparent for the viewers who know the presenters from the screen — while the free-takeaway distribution at public contact points mirrors the model of Germany's free weekly papers. In Lower Bavaria, where the broadcaster describes itself as the first regional broadcaster founded in the state, the magazine's quarterly rhythm gives the TV brand a print anchor in the region's households, from Passau's three-river old town to the Landshut wedding city's surroundings.

Organization and Ownership

The magazine is published by Niederbayern TV — the regional television broadcaster for Lower Bavaria, formed by the merger of the local stations, the first regional broadcaster founded in Bavaria. The commercial model is the free regional magazine's: the free takeaway at the public display points in Passau, Deggendorf, Straubing, Landshut and surroundings, the regional advertisers — the businesses, the tourism, the public institutions — via the downloadable media data, and the cross-media integration with the TV broadcaster. The free-takeaway model is the regional magazine's democratic distribution: no subscription barrier, no kiosk price — the magazine where the people pass, at the public contact points, the waiting rooms, the shops. The advertisers buy the region: the Lower Bavarian businesses reaching the Lower Bavarian readers, the tourism boards selling the region to itself. The media-data download makes the B2B transaction transparent: the dates, the formats, the prices. The cross-media integration — the TV programmes' making-ofs in the magazine, the magazine's topics on TV — is the broadcaster's synergy: the two media feeding each other, the viewer becoming the reader and the reader the viewer. The magazine's A4 glossy format positions it as the quality free title: the high-quality cover for the free distribution. The quarterly dates — 16 March, 15 June, 14 September, 16 November 2026 — structure the advertising year. Detailed circulation figures and editorial-staff information are not publicly confirmed in the sources available. The passau-magazin.de domain's current use for the Niederbayern TV Magazin documents the Passau magazine's integration into the regional broadcaster's media house.

Digital Presence

The magazine's website is passau-magazin.de — the Niederbayern TV Magazin's portal with the leaf catalogue of the issues, the display-point listings, the media-data downloads and the newsletter subscription. The September 2026 issue (issue 28) is browsable in the Blätterkatalog. The newsletter keeps the readers updated between the quarterly issues. The Niederbayern TV's broadcasting — the regional television programmes that the magazine's making-ofs cover — frames the print magazine within the cross-media house: the TV station, the magazine, the newsletter, the online portal. In the Lower Bavarian media landscape the magazine occupies the free-regional-magazine pole: the quarterly A4 glossy that the Lower Bavarians take home free — "Heimat ist ein Gefühl" — from Passau to Landshut, four times a year, from the region's television broadcaster. The motto is the editorial programme: the homeland not as the birthplace but as the feeling — the Lower Bavaria that the readers feel, not just inhabit. The magazine's four issues trace the region's year: the March spring awakening, the June summer, the September autumn, the November pre-Christmas — the Lower Bavarian calendar in glossy A4, free to take away, from the TV station that the region watches to the magazine that it reads.