RTL Group


RTL Group S.A. is a Luxembourg-based digital media group with interests in 61 television and 30 radio stations in 10 countries. The group operates TV channels and radio stations in Germany, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Spain, Hungary, and Croatia as well as production companies throughout the world. It is the only publicly-traded division of the German media conglomerate Bertelsmann. It is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the MDAX index.
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 and The Bill.
RTL originally stood for Radio Television Lëtzebuerg, Radio Télévision Luxembourg or Radio Television Luxemburg ; with its English translation of the abbreviation as Radio Television of Luxembourg.

History

RTL Group's history dates back to 1924 with a single radio station launched by François and Marcel Anen, operated from their home in Luxembourg. Eventually, the Anen brothers created the Association Radio Luxembourg in 1926 to run the station. In 1929, SLER or Société Luxembourgeoise d'Études Radiophoniques was launched. Months later, on July 29, CNRL or Compagnie Nationale de Radiodiffusion Luxembourgeoise, into which the Anen brothers's radio station had been integrated, was launched. It was CNRL that began broadcasting that same year under the Radio Luxembourg name. In 1931 CLR or Compagnie Luxembourgeoise de Radiodiffusion, which operated Radio Luxembourg, was founded. CLR was one of 23 founding broadcasting organisations of the European Broadcasting Union in 1950. 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, a subsidiary of global media conglomerate Bertelsmann to create CLT-UFA. In 2000 it merged with a major rival, the former Pearson Television division of Pearson PLC, and became RTL Group. As of January 2014, Bertelsmann owns a 75.1% stake in the publicly listed company.
One of the reasons for RTL's early success was that Luxembourg allowed commercial radio and TV stations long before other European countries. This flexibility enabled RTL to transmit to other countries 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 1A satellite, often referred to as the Astra Satellite, as SES only operated one satellite originally. Radio Luxembourg relaunched in November 2005 and is currently available online on Digital Radio Mondiale. A sister station, Atlantic 252 was a long-wave radio station jointly run by RTL Group and Irish broadcaster RTÉ. It ceased broadcasting live on December 20, 2001.
RTL is a member of the Hybrid Broadcast Broadband TV consortium of broadcasting and Internet industry companies that is promoting and establishing an open European standard for hybrid set-top boxes for the reception of free-to-air TV and broadband multimedia applications with a single user interface. RTL Television has been operating HbbTV services since 2010. a
In 2014 RTL Group bought a controlling interest in StyleHaul, a YouTube fashion platform. RTL raised its stake in StyleHaul to 93.6% for $US107 million.
RTL Group has become the leading European media company in online video and is ranked among the top global players in this segment. Since 2013, RTL Group has made key investments in several multi-platform networks such as BroadbandTV, StyleHaul, Divimove and, most recently, United Screens. Additionally, RTL Group invested into advertising technology, namely video ad serving platform SpotX in the US and monetisation platform Smartclip in Europe as well as the investments accounted for using the equity method: Clypd, a pioneer in programmatic TV, and VideoAmp, a platform for cross-screen data optimisation. In 2017, RTL Group decided to combine SpotX and Smartclip to create one integrated ad-tech company by the end of 2018, to launch the platform across the Group’s operations and to scale it up with further acquisitions and partnerships.
In February 2019, RTL Group agreed to sell its film distribution company, Universum, to Kohlberg Kravis Roberts' European Fund IV just days after KKR announced an agreement to purchase Tele München Group. The sale is expected to close in April with Tele Munchen Group and Universum combining.

Television stations

Station followed by RTL's present share amount percentage.
Luxembourg
France
Germany
Belgium
Spain

Former stations

Located in Luxembourg, Broadcasting Center Europe is a 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.

Others