German public broadcaster ZDF will partner ARD and Deutsche Welle (DW) in a relaunched worldwide German television channel. ZDF’s board gave the green light to its participation at its meeting last Friday. Until now, DW has been financing and producing the 24-hour channel DW-TV on its own. The Social Democratic government, soon after the election last year, announced severe cuts to DW’s budget which is financed by the foreign department of the German state. A working group set up by ARD’s affiliate WDR, ZDF and DW has developed a concept for a jointly operated global TV channel called German Television which could launch as early as March 1 2000. The schedule will include the public broadcasters’ main evening news broadcasts and popular series and talk-shows produced by ARD and ZDF for their domestic channels. Observers believe the public channels see their involvement as a way to take their brand names to a global audience.