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Country | Germany |
---|---|
Broadcast area | North Rhine-Westphalia, also distributed nationally |
Headquarters | Cologne, Germany |
Programming | |
Picture format | 1080p HDTV (downscaled to 720p HDTV and 16:9 576i for the DTT and SDTV feeds, respectively) |
Ownership | |
Owner | Westdeutscher Rundfunk |
History | |
Launched | 17 December 1965 |
Former names | Westdeutsches Fernsehen (1965–1988) West 3 (1988–1994) |
Links | |
Website | http://www.wdr.de/tv/ |
Availability | |
Terrestrial | |
Digital terrestrial television | North Rhine-Westphalia: Channel 3 |
Streaming media | |
WDR.de | Watch live |
Ziggo GO (Netherlands) | ZiggoGO.tv (Europe only) |
Horizon | Horizon.tv (Switzerland only) |
WDR Fernsehen is a German free-to-air television network owned and operated by Westdeutscher Rundfunk and serving North Rhine-Westphalia. It is one of the seven regional "third programmes" television stations that are offered within the federal ARD network.
The station began broadcasting on 17 December 1965, as Westdeutsches Fernsehen (WDF), changing its name to West 3 in 1988, before settling for WDR Fernsehen in 1994.
Originally airing only in North Rhine-Westphalia, the channel has become available across Germany with the advent of Cable TV and satellite television. The station is also available free-to-air across Europe via Astra 19.2°E.
In November 2013, the channel faced a graphical rebrand.
WDR Fernsehen operates eleven sub-regional opt-out services, each broadcasting a 30-minute local news programme entitled Lokalzeit at 19.30 each Monday to Saturday evening together with a shorter, 5-minute bulletin at 18.00 on Mondays to Fridays:
North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a state (Land) in Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the most populous state in Germany. Apart from the city-states, it is also the most densely populated state in Germany. Covering an area of 34,084 km2 (13,160 sq mi), it is the fourth-largest German state by size.
Duisburg is a city in the Ruhr metropolitan area of the western German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Lying on the confluence of the Rhine and the Ruhr rivers in the center of the Rhine-Ruhr Region, Duisburg is the 5th largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia and the 15th-largest city in Germany.
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Heinsberg is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is the seat of the district Heinsberg. It is situated near the border with the Netherlands, on the river Wurm, approx. 20 km north-east of Sittard and 30 km south-west of Mönchengladbach.
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The Duisburg-Ruhrort–Mönchengladbach railway is a historically significant, but now partly abandoned line in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The line was built by the Ruhrort-Crefeld District Gladbach Railway Company, founded in 1847, and is one of the oldest lines in Germany, opened in 1849 and 1851.
Viersen station is a station in the city of Viersen in the west of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia.
The NRW-Express is a Regional-Express rail service in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), running from Aachen via Cologne, Düsseldorf, Duisburg, Essen, Bochum and Dortmund to Hamm as line RE 1. The line is part of the Rhine-Ruhr Express (RRX) network and is operated by National Express.
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The Rhein-Hellweg-Express is a Regional-Express service in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), running from Kassel via Dortmund, Bochum, Essen, Duisburg and Düsseldorf Airport to Düsseldorf Hbf. It is named after the Rhine and the Westphalian Hellweg. The line is part of the Rhine-Ruhr Express (RRX) network and is operated by National Express.
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Carmen Thomas is a German journalist, radio and television presenter, author and lecturer. On television, she was the first woman to present the ZDF's das aktuelle Sportstudio. She worked for public radio, running Hallo Ü-Wagen, a weekly travelling talk radio show for two decades. In 1990 Forbes named her one of the 100 most influential women in Germany.
The Rhine-Niers-Bahn is a Regionalbahn service in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It connects Essen Hbf, Duisburg Hbf on the Rhine with Mönchengladbach on the Niers, Aachen and Heinsberg.
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Hallo Ü-Wagen was a German travelling talk radio show of the WDR. It was presented and directed weekly by Carmen Thomas from 1974 to 1994. In 1990, Forbes named her one of the 100 most influential women in Germany for running it. The series continued until 2010.