RTL Group
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
RTL Group is Europe's largest TV, radio and production company, and is majority-owned by German media conglomerate Bertelsmann. It has 34 television and 33 radio stations in 12 countries. This Luxembourg-based media group operates TV channels and radio stations in Germany, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, UK, Luxembourg, Spain, Hungary, Portugal and Croatia, and production companies in the United States.
It is one of the world's leading producers of television content such as game shows and soaps, including The X Factor, Pop Idol, Good Times, Bad Times, The Price Is Right, Family Feud, The Bill, and, under licence from Mark Burnett Productions, the producer of non-US versions, and distributor of all versions internationally, of The Apprentice.
The now-defunct Atlantic 252 was a long-wave radio station jointly run by RTL Group and Irish broadcaster RTÉ .It ceased broadcasting live on Thursday December 20th 2001.
RTL originally stood for Radio Télévision Luxembourg (in French) or Radio Télé Luxemburg (in German).
The RTL Group started in 1931 as CLR or Compagnie Luxembourgeoise de Radiodiffusion which operated Radio Luxembourg. CLR was one of 23 founding broadcasting organisations of the European Broadcasting Union in 1950. The RTL Group is still an EBU-member under a previous name: CLT Multi Media. In 1954 it was renamed CLT or Compagnie Luxembourgeoise de Télédiffusion and started television broadcasts. In 1997 it merged with Hamburg-based UFA Film- und Fernseh-GmbH (not to be confused with pre 1945 UFA) to create CLT-UFA. In 2000 it merged with Pearson TV and became RTL Group, which also allowed it to enter the prestigious American broadcast market. As of October 2005, 90.4% of the company is owned Bertelsmann.
One of the major reasons for RTL's early success, apart from the merits related to the programming content itself, was that Luxembourg allowed commercial radio and TV stations long before other European countries. This flexibility enabled RTL to transmit to other countries (such as the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and the Netherlands) in their own languages. Many British radio presenters began their careers on Radio Luxembourg before moving to the BBC and to commercial broadcasters in the UK. In the 1970s, Radio Luxembourg's English-language audiences declined as a result of new music stations in the UK, and the service ceased broadcasting in the early 1990s on the Astra Satellite. Radio Luxembourg relaunched in November 2005 and is currently available online at www.radioluxembourg.co.uk and on Digital Radio Mondiale.
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[edit] Television stations
Stations are listed with RTL's current share ownership percentage in brackets.
- RTL TVI (66 %)
- Club RTL (66 %)
- Plug TV (66 %)
- RTL Televizija (74%)
- Fun TV (100 %)
- M6 (48,8 %)
- M6 Boutique La Chaîne (100 %)
- M6 Music Hits (100 %)
- M6 Music Rock (100 %)
- M6 Music Black (100 %)
- Paris Première (100 %)
- RTL 9 (35 %)
- Série Club (50 %)
- Téva (51 %)
- TF6 (50 %)
- W9 (100 %)
- RTL Television (100 %)
- RTL II (35,9 %)
- Super RTL (50 %)
- RTL Shop (89,76 %)
- Vox (99,7 %)
- n-tv (100 %)
- K1010 (19,87 %)
- Traumpartner TV (100 %)
- Passion (50 %, pay-TV)
- RTL Crime (100%, pay-TV)
- RTL Living (100 %, pay-TV)
- RTL Klub (49%)
- RTL 102.5 Radio
- RTL 102.5 TV
- RTL Télé Lëtzebuerg (100%)
- Den 2. RTL (100%)
- Netherlands (RTL Nederland, formerly known as Holland Media Groep or HMG)
- REN TV (30%)
The money-losing Polish-language RTL 7 satellite television channel has been sold in December 2001 to TVN owners ITI and became TVN 7.
Portuguese media group Grupo Media Capital was sold to Grupo Prisa on 6 February 2007. Subsequently, RTL's 33% share in TVI was transfered to Grupo Prisa.
[edit] Radio stations
Station followed by RTL's present share amount percentage.
France
Germany
- 104.6 RTL (100%)
- RTL Radio (100%)
- Antenne Bayern (16%)
- Radio Hamburg (29.17%)
- Radio NRW (16.96%)
- Radio 21 (17.3%)
- Big FM (7.74%)
- Radio Regenbogen (15.75%)
- Radio Dresden (31.9%)
- Radio Leipzig (31.9%)
- Radio Chemintz (31.9%)
- Radio Lausitz (31.9%)
- Radio Zwickau (31.9%)
- VOGTLAND RADIO (31.9%)
- Hit radio RTL (30.5%)
- ANTENNE MECKLENBURG-VORPOMMERN(19.7%)
- Radio Brocken (53.5%)
- 89.0 RTL (53.5%)
- ANTENNE THÜRINGEN (15%)
- Radio Ton (2%)
- BB Radio (unknown)
- 105'5 Spreeradio (33.8%)
- Radio Top 40 (unknown)
- Oldie 95 (4.78%)
- Rock Antenne (16%)
Luxembourg
- RTL Radio Letzebuerg (100%)
- RTL Radio (100%)
Belgium
- Bel RTL (43%)
- Radio Contact (49.4%)
- BXL (unknown)
- Mint (unknown)
Spain
- Onda Cero (18.6%)
- Europa FM (18.6%)
Portugal
- Radio Commercial (33%)
- Cidade FM Pop station (33%)
- RCP Radio Club Portuges (33%)
- Best Rock FM (33%)
Romania
- Radio Contact (unknown)
Bulgaria
- Radio Contact (unknown)
Moldavia
- Radio Contact (unknown)
[edit] Technical Services
- Broadcasting Center Europe
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- Located in Luxembourg, Broadcasting Center Europe is an European company providing technical services in the fields of TV, Radio, Telecommunications and IT. BCE was founded in January 2000 as a result of the merger of several technical entities of the RTL Group.
