Leading German internet service provider Web.de has joined mini-major Kinowelt as a shareholder in regional broadcaster B.TV Television, by acquiring a 9.94% stake in the Baden-Wuerttemberg-based channel.

The move makes Web.de, which reaches 5.4 million users, the first German internet player to become directly involved in television.

B.TV can be received by around 10 million people in Land of Baden-Wuerttemberg via an analogue ASTRA satellite, cable and aerial, as well as 35 million viewers throughout Germany and a total of more than 70 million in Europe as a whole.

According to Web.de, which has been listed on the Neuer Markt since February 2000, the participation in B.TV is seen as "another step in the strategic integration of classic media into the internet and the tapping of new target groups".