Thomas Beyer studied journalism and geography in Leipzig, and worked as a journalist, producer and documentary filmmaker in Leipzig and Hamburg. He is the commissioning editor for feature length documentaries at Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk (Central German Broadcasting). MDR is the public broadcaster for the federal states of Thuringia, Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt. Established in January 1991, its headquarters are in Leipzig and Halle, with regional studios in Dresden, Erfurt and Magdeburg. MDR is a member of the ARD consortium of public broadcasters in Germany. MDR broadcasts its own television and a number of radio channels to the three states it serves, and also contributes programming to the first German TV channel (Das Erste) and to ARTE.