SWR Fernsehen is a German regional television channel targeting the states of Baden-Württemberg

Baden-Württemberg

Baden-Württemberg is one of the 16 states of Germany. Baden-Württemberg is in the southwestern part of the country to the east of the Upper Rhine, and is the third largest in both area and population of Germany's sixteen states, with an area of and 10.7 million inhabitants...

 and Rhineland-Palatinate

Rhineland-Palatinate

Rhineland-Palatinate is one of the 16 states of the Federal Republic of Germany. It has an area of and about four million inhabitants. The capital is Mainz. English speakers also commonly refer to the state by its German name, Rheinland-Pfalz ....

. It is produced by Südwestrundfunk

Südwestrundfunk

The Südwestrundfunk is a public broadcasting company for the southwest of Germany, specifically the states of Baden-Württemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate. The company has main offices in three cities: Stuttgart, Baden-Baden and Mainz, with the director's office being in Stuttgart. It is an...

 (SWR) and is one of eight regional "third channels" broadcast by the ARD

ARD (broadcaster)

ARD is a joint organization of Germany's regional public-service broadcasters...

 members.

The channel started on April 5, 1969 as a collaboration between Süddeutscher Rundfunk

Süddeutscher Rundfunk

The Süddeutscher Rundfunk was a German radio and television station operating in the northern part of the state of Baden-Württemberg. It existed from 1949 to 1998, when it was merged with the then Südwestfunk to form the Südwestrundfunk....

 (SDR), Südwestfunk (SWF) and SR named "Südwest 3". SDR and SWF merged in 1998 to form SWR and the channel was renamed "Südwest Fernsehen". The name "SWR Fernsehen" was adopted in September 2006.

The channel is available in two different versions:

• SWR Fernsehen BW for Baden-Württemberg
  Baden-Württemberg
  Baden-Württemberg is one of the 16 states of Germany. Baden-Württemberg is in the southwestern part of the country to the east of the Upper Rhine, and is the third largest in both area and population of Germany's sixteen states, with an area of and 10.7 million inhabitants...
  
  .
• SWR Fernsehen RP for Rhineland-Palatinate
  Rhineland-Palatinate
  Rhineland-Palatinate is one of the 16 states of the Federal Republic of Germany. It has an area of and about four million inhabitants. The capital is Mainz. English speakers also commonly refer to the state by its German name, Rheinland-Pfalz ....
  
  .

The different versions broadcasts local news updates during the afternoon and a longer block with local broadcasts in the evening. About 70 percent of the programming is common, while 30 percent is broadcast regionally.