Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland

Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland is German media company owned by RTL Group. The company have twelve television channels and nineteen radio stations.

History[]

Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland was created in 1984 by CLT (as CLT Deutschland) as as an umbrella brand grouping all its audiovisual activities in Germany. The Group's free TV channels, digital specialty channels, radio stations, IP Deutschland, Cologne Broadcasting Center (CBC) and RTL Interactive, the subsidiary responsible for the diversification of supply digital services, depend on the new group whose ambition is to be present on all screens, whether television, computer or mobile phones.

On September 1, 2010, RTL Digitaltext (digital version of the teletext offer) was launched, followed by N-TV at the beginning of 2012, Vox in mid-2012 and RTL II in April 2013.

January 1, 2011, Vox received a sole broadcasting license for a full program. Previously, the station had shared a dual license with dctp.

On September 26, 2011, Picassoplatz in Cologne-Deutz was inaugurated as the new address of Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland.

On January 31, 2012, RTL Group signed a three-year contract with Walt Disney Studios Distribution to broadcast films from the Disney catalog in Germany on the channels of Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland.

The fourth pay-TV channel of Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland is being created in cooperation with Gruner+Jahr magazine GEO. The offer shows high-quality documentation. Cologne Broadcasting Center (CBC) performs the playout.

RTL International was launched on January 18, 2016. This channel was dedicated for Germans living abroad. On May 31, 2017, RTL International ceased broadcasting.

Distribution[]

Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland planned the DVB-T exit until the beginning of 2014. According to the information, for example, in the metropolitan area of Munich, the DVB-T offer of the affiliated channels ended in August 2013 and due to fixed-term contracts, the DVB-T broadcast would be practically up 2014 been discontinued nationwide. The managing director of RTL Interactive justified the step among other things with missing planning security, since the digital frequencies are in particular highly desired with the telecommunications companies and the Federal Ministry of Economics does not want to assure the transmitters the use of the frequencies over the long term. Meanwhile, the exit plans have been revised. As of March 29, 2017, the distribution via DVB-T has been discontinued and is now broadcasting via DVB-T2 HD.