ARD-alpha education channel will become a knowledge portal

Munich. ARD is considering expanding its educational channel ARD-alpha into a multimedia knowledge and education portal. There is great interest in a public service that broadcasts better and aggregates its offerings on education, knowledge and science across all channels, Director of Bavarian Radio, Katja Wildermuth, said in an interview with the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung” (Saturday).

“ARD-alpha can be developed into a central network of corresponding ARD content in organizations and in collaboration with well-known partners from the education and science sectors,” said Wildermouth. “According to our considerations, ARD-alpha could develop into a multimedia educational and cognitive presentation.” The TV education channel ARD-alpha was initially launched as BR-alpha at the end of the 1990s under the leadership of BR.

As a concrete first step, on October 30, German astronaut Matthias Maurer will not only have a special program in the linear program, but also have an online focus. In November there will be an in-depth presentation on the ardalpha.de network of the ARD program “Knowledge Before Eight – Earth” in the first evening programme.

Closer cooperation to save costs

Wildermouth also spoke in favor of closer collaboration between ARD broadcasters in management and information technology in order to save costs. “We cannot and do not want to do without the regional footprint, but everything that happens in the back office and in technology can come closer together,” she told FAZ. However, there are still restrictions under competition law and tax law that make close cooperation difficult.

When creating the ARD cultural platform, Wildermouth can no longer rule out the participation of BR. Her predecessor, Ulrich Wilhelm, had refused to do so due to concerns about his connection to the debate over radio licensing fees.

According to Wildermouth, the concept will be presented to ARD managers in the next few months. It is correct, similar to ARD-alpha, to group the cultural content of ARD in this way. “I’m excited about the concept. The Culture Gate will definitely come, and then we’ll see if the BR will be there.” Wildermuth had only changed from MDR to BR as the new director at the beginning of the year.