BANFF Honours ZDF German Television with
Global Television Outstanding Achievement Award 2003
(Cannes, France, March 25, 2003) ZDF German Television, one of Europe's largest broadcasters and a leading provider of high-quality factual programming, is the recipient of this year's prestigious Global Television Outstanding Achievement Award at the 24th Banff Television Festival, June 8 to 13, 2003. The award will be presented to ZDF at a special evening Tribute celebration on Tuesday, June 10.
In making the announcement today at a MIP-TV media conference in Cannes, Pat Ferns, president and CEO of the Banff Television Foundation praised ZDF for its impressive contribution to the German and worldwide television industry. "For more than four decades, ZDF has been informing and entertaining German audiences with a superb public broadcasting service. In more recent times, ZDF German Television and ZDF Enterprises have been playing a key role in creating international programming of the highest standard through co-productions and partnership. We have recognized its work in the past in the Banff Rockie Awards and now we honour its outstanding achievement as a whole."
"We are proud to be honoured by the Banff Television Festival for our efforts in the international market," said Markus Schächter, director general of ZDF. "It is a great honour for ZDF, as the national German broadcaster, to be part of the worldwide community of premium programming television stations. With our quadrangle of cultural programming, which includes Arte, 3sat, the Theaterkanal' and ZDF, and with the highest share of first-class documentaries in culture, history and science, we have become a leader in the European market. Today, ZDF is the biggest information provider in German television. A network of worldwide correspondents and partnerships with major news providers supplies us with top quality international news for ZDF viewers. The Global Television Outstanding Achievement Award is a great honour and will inspire ZDF to continue providing top quality programming."
ZDF began in 1961 as a public service television station. Today, the ZDF channel is broadcast nationwide terrestrially as well as by cable and satellite reaching 100% of German television households. Its mandate is to provide information, education and entertainment for all citizens. Commercial activities are managed by ZDF Enterprises GmbH, which has received worldwide industry recognition for its high-quality co-productions in collaboration with international partners. ZDF has 3,600 regular employees at the corporation's headquarters and broadcasting centre in Mainz, Germany and in 16 domestic and 19 foreign bureaus. Widespread international cooperation with other TV Networks such as NBC, TBS, ITN, RAI, TF1 or Al-Jazeera, strengthen the transnational range of activities. ZDF together with the commercial broadcaster RTL and the public service broadcaster ARD is one of the three leading companies in market share. Especially strong in news and current affairs, emphasis is placed on producing top quality information programming as in the heute news bulletins and weekly in-depth magazines. ZDF, together with the BBC, has become one of the most important producers of state-of-the-art documentaries in Europe. For more information, go to www.zdf.de.
The winner of the Global Television Outstanding Achievement Award is selected annually by the Banff Television Foundation's Board of Governors, currently chaired by Trina McQueen, president of Hutton-Belleville Inc. (A link to the Board of Governors list is below). The award recognizes a body of work over time and is one of the world's pre-eminent television prizes. (A link to the complete list of past recipients is below).
Banff 2003, the 24th Banff Television Festival, takes place June 8 to 13 at the Fairmont Banff Springs in the Canadian Rockies. It is expected to draw over 1,800 producers, broadcasters, commissioning editors, content creators and other industry stakeholders from around the world who will take part in an array of plenary sessions, seminars, Master Classes, pitching and networking opportunities.
CanWest Global Communications Corp. (NYSE: CWG; TSE: CGS.S and CGS.A; (www.canwestglobal.com) is an international media company. CanWest, Canada's largest publisher of daily newspapers, owns, operates and/or holds substantial interests in newspapers, conventional television, out-of-home advertising, specialty cable channels, radio networks and Internet portals in Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Ireland and the United Kingdom. Fireworks, the Company's program production and distribution division, operates in several countries throughout the world.
Global Television Outstanding Achievement Award Honour Roll
Board of Governors Banff Television Foundation
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