Berlin (dpa) – A few weeks before the federal election, Germany’s most famous tabloid brand, Bild, launched its TV channel of the same name. On the first day of broadcast there were two interviews on Sunday evening with the Chancellor candidates Armin Laschet (CDU) and Olaf Scholz (SPD) – the whole thing was part of a “Chancellor Night” on TV. A new survey saw the CDU / CSU and SPD meanwhile on par with 22 percent each.
In a special of the talk format “The Right Questions”, “Bild” Vice-Vice President Paul Ronzheimer first spoke with Laschet from 8:15 p.m. about the Afghanistan debacle (“If I see that today, I should have been more committed”) and about the Bundestag election campaign (“We are now realizing that it is close.”). Laschet also revealed that he only slept five to six hours and that his wife was surprised.
Ronzheimer also presented Laschet with a German flag to talk about the topic of patriotism. The same thing happens more often in the talk format: Months ago, Ronzheimer once presented a huge steak on the subject of grilling in a conversation with Green Chancellor candidate Annalena Baerbock.
The interview in the studio was flanked by a group of spectators with ex-boxer Regina Halmich, ex-soccer manager Reiner Calmund as well as a bar operator and a butcher, who rated the whole thing.
Afterwards, «Bild» moderator Kai Weise spoke with SPD politician Scholz from 9.45 p.m. He said of the latest poll that he was convinced that the SPD had a good and confident program for the future. He was also given a German flag.
The free-to-air TV program began at 9 am with a preview clip of the broadcaster’s own profile, followed by the first sports program, “The Situation of the League”. The studio guest was the sports director of Hertha BSC, Fredi Bobic.
The show was moderated by the long-time “Bild” sports experts Walter M. Straten and Alfred Draxler. At the beginning of the broadcast, Straten said: “Hello Germany, here we are. You know picture on paper, you also know picture digital and now we have really landed on television. And the beginning, as it should be for Bild, is sport. We are, so to speak, the Neil Armstrong of Bild on TV. “
The first hours of the program were dominated by football. Liverpool coach Jürgen Klopp was switched to one of the sports programs via video. In addition to sports topics, he also chatted about why he is currently not wearing glasses, which he previously needed as a severely nearsighted person. This is currently no longer necessary after an operation on the eyes, said Klopp.
Germany’s largest tabloid wants to offer live reporting, documentaries, reports and talks with the TV news channel. The heart of the program will be the “Bild Live” program from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. during the week. There is a sports focus on Sundays. With Bild, the media group Axel Springer now has three TV channels in its portfolio. The other two channels are Welt and N24 Doku. The TV broadcaster Bild is to be financed through TV advertising income. In the program on the first day of the broadcast, advertising blocks could already be seen.
In the afternoon, the viewer saw reruns of the morning’s sports programs, followed by documentaries, including one about tornadoes. Meanwhile, info tapes with the latest news were shown over and over again.
Bild program director Claus Strunz told the German press agency before the TV start on the program “Bild Live”: “We will use this stretch as an anchorage, but we will not go into the documentary slumber afterwards.” You broadcast documentaries, but you are almost always in live mode when something extraordinary happens at other times of the day. “So that there is a suction effect and it is best to keep the transmitter running, because otherwise you will miss something important. That is the real idea. “
The program director named “everyone” as the target group, at the same time he added: “We know that if we address people who are already using the Bild brand, we tend to reach more men than women. That’s why we put a lot of emphasis on sport in our program. “