RTL Group
With 23 television and 22 radio stations in 8 countries, RTL Group is Europe’s largest TV, radio and production company. The Luxembourg-based media group operates TV channels and radio stations in Germany, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, UK, Luxembourg, Spain and Hungary. It is one of the world’s leading producers of television content such as game shows and soaps, including “Pop Idol”, “Good Times, Bad Times”, “Family Feud” and “The Bill”. At the same time, with more than 85 websites in 11 European countries, RTL Group is ranked at the top of the new-media sector.RTL Group was created in Spring 2000 following the merger of CLT-UFA, the TV and radio group owned by Bertelsmann AG (with the German newspaper group WAZ) and the Belgian-Canadian Groupe Bruxelles Lambert (GBL), with the British production company Pearson TV owned by the UK-based media group Pearson plc. In July 2001, Bertelsmann became majority shareholder of RTL Group following a stock swap with GBL in which GBL changed its 30 per cent stake in RTL Group against a 25 per cent stake in Bertelsmann AG. In December 2001, Bertelsmann entered into an agreement with Pearson plc to acquire its 22 per cent stake in RTL Group, raising Bertelsmann’s interest in RTL Group to 89 per cent. The remaining 11 per cent of RTL Group are publicly traded.Read more |
