About Gute Laune TV

Gute Laune TV

Gute Laune TV ("Good Mood TV") is a German pay-TV music channel devoted to German-language music — Schlager, volkstümlicher Schlager, and Volksmusik. On air since 18 October 2005, the Landshut-based channel broadcasts a 24-hour special-interest programme of music clips, predominantly self-produced, spanning German hits from the 1960s to today. Owned by the High View Holding GmbH (100% since 1 January 2018, retrospectively), it is the Schlager colour in High View's music portfolio alongside Deluxe Music, Jukebox, and the former RCK.TV — receivable via cable and IPTV subscription packages.

Overview

Gute Laune TV is a digital television channel broadcasting German-language music around the clock: Schlager, Neue Deutsche Welle, folk and volkstümliche music, evergreens, and earworms from the 1960s to the present. The 24-hour programme consists predominantly of in-house productions — music clips, artist portraits, entertaining interviews, video premieres, live concerts, and background reports.

The channel's licence was granted by the Medienanstalt Berlin-Brandenburg (MABB) on 22 June 2005; broadcasting began on 18 October 2005. It is produced by Gute Laune TV GmbH, based in Landshut, which belongs 100% to High View Holding GmbH (as of 11 February 2019) under managing director Alexander Trauttmansdorff.

Since New Year 2021, the channel has broadcast only official video clips and self-produced Gute Laune TV video clips — the archive clips from ZDF-Hitparade, Disco, Deutsche Schlagerparade, and WWF Club disappeared from the schedule. The programming remains the German Schlager universe: the stars at the centre, the hits around the clock.

History

Gute Laune TV received its MABB licence on 22 June 2005 and launched on 18 October 2005 — the digital subscription channel for German-language Schlager, folk, and volkstümliche music. The 24-hour full programme was predominantly self-produced from the start: a varied mix of the most beautiful hits and greatest melodies of German-language music.

Distribution grew through the cable landscape: the channel became available nationwide via the Kabel Deutschland, Kabel BW, Unitymedia, and Kabelkiosk cable networks, plus cablecom and swisscable in Switzerland, Liwest and UPC in Austria, and Numericable in Luxembourg. Via IPTV, it joined T-Home's offering; via satellite, the "fernsehen für mich" bouquet.

On 3 August 2009, the channel launched on the Eutelsat KabelKiosk — the leading independent digital platform supplying German and European cable networks — in the new FamilyXL package. The KabelKiosk's management welcomed the Schlager focus as the ideal complement to its programme portfolio.

The ownership changed in 2018: the High View Holding — owner of Deluxe Music — acquired Gute Laune TV 100%, retrospectively to 1 January of that year. The entire team under Marko Tomazin was taken over; the independent editorial department and the brand were preserved, with both companies brought together at High View's Landshut site.

High View's rationale was portfolio logic: the company's offerings then included the free-TV channel Deluxe Music and the pay-TV services Jukebox and RCK.TV — Gute Laune TV's German-music and Schlager-hits focus distinguished it from the group's rock and pop genres. As Alexander Trauttmansdorff put it, the Schlager theme has a broad fan base and complements the existing music genres perfectly; the acquisition extended the music portfolio with another musical colour and an established brand.

Programming and Content

The programme is the German Schlager world, 24 hours: music clips spanning Schlager, Neue Deutsche Welle, Volks- and volkstümliche Musik, evergreens, and earworms from the 1960s to today. With the music, the stars take centre stage: current portraits, entertaining interviews, video premieres, live concerts, and background information are regular programme components.

Location shoots and reports from the scene's key events — the Mallorca Opening, the Grand Prix der Volksmusik, the Schlagermove — round out the programming. The channel's formats include Dutch-success-format adaptations like "Spiel mir einer" with moderator Wijbrand van der Sande — underscoring, in the channel's words, the internationality of Schlager and folk music.

Since January 2021, the clip sourcing narrowed: only official video clips and the channel's own productions — the archive material from classic German music shows (ZDF-Hitparade, Disco, Deutsche Schlagerparade, WWF Club) no longer in rotation. The programme remains predominantly self-produced: the channel making its own Schlager television.

Coverage and Audience

Gute Laune TV is receivable via cable television and IPTV — in each case as subscription TV — across Germany, with availability also in Austria, Switzerland, and Luxembourg through partner networks. The channel's carriage spans the major German cable networks and IPTV platforms.

The audience is the Schlager fan base: the broad, loyal following for German-language popular music — spanning generations, from the evergreen lovers to the Popschlager audience. The Schlager genre's demographics skew older than pop, but the fan base is deep and engaged: the viewers who attend the Schlagermove, follow the Grand Prix der Volksmusik, and keep the genre's stars in the charts.

The channel's pay-TV positioning — the subscription music channel — targets the committed fan: the viewer who pays for the Schlager world around the clock. The High View portfolio's free-to-air music channels serve the casual viewer; Gute Laune TV serves the devotee.

Ownership

Gute Laune TV is produced by Gute Laune TV GmbH, based in Landshut, Germany — 100% owned by High View Holding GmbH. The managing directors are Marko Tomazin and Alexander Trauttmansdorff.

High View Holding's music portfolio includes the free-TV channel Deluxe Music (with its genre siblings Deluxe Dance, Deluxe Rap, Deluxe Lounge, Schlager Deluxe, and others), the pay-TV offerings Jukebox and Gute Laune TV, and the entertainment channels AXN Black and AXN White (acquired 2023). Gute Laune TV is the portfolio's Schlager specialist — the German-music colour.

The Schlager Channel

Schlager — the German-language popular song — is a cultural institution: the evergreen hits, the folk-inflected melodies, the singalong choruses that define German popular music for much of the population. Gute Laune TV is this institution's television channel: the Schlager world, programmed around the clock.

The channel's self-production model is the key: rather than licensing archive shows, Gute Laune TV makes its own Schlager television — the portraits, the interviews, the concerts, the event reports. This in-house production gives the channel its identity: the Schlager scene, covered by its own television.

The 2021 clip-policy change — official clips and own productions only — reinforced this identity: the channel as producer, not archivist. The ZDF-Hitparade era's clips left the schedule; the channel's own Schlager present took their place.

High View's Music Portfolio

The 2018 acquisition placed Gute Laune TV in Germany's leading independent music-television portfolio: Deluxe Music's free-to-air genre channels, Jukebox's pay-TV offering, and Gute Laune TV's Schlager specialism. The portfolio logic — each channel a musical colour — gives the group the German music-television market in breadth.

Trauttmansdorff's assessment — that High View had proven, with Deluxe Music, Jukebox, and RCK.TV, that an independent successful music offering for classic and digital use is possible from the German market — framed the acquisition as validation: the independent model working, the Schlager channel its next colour.

For Gute Laune TV, the acquisition brought the network and market know-how of the larger group — in Marko Tomazin's words, an important step for the channel's further growth. The Landshut consolidation — both companies at the High View site — integrated the Schlager team into the music-television operation.

Digital Presence

Gute Laune TV maintains its online presence (gutelaunetv.de) with programme information for its Schlager audience. The channel's social-media channels serve the fan community with clip premieres, artist news, and event coverage.

Programme listings appear in the electronic guides of the carrying cable and IPTV platforms. For German Schlager fans, Gute Laune TV is the genre's television home: the hits, the stars, the events — "gute Laune" around the clock, on air since 2005.