RTL 8

RTL 8 is Dutch entertainment television network owned by RTL Nederland. The channel broadcasts soap operas, entertainment, talk-shows and movies programmings.

History[]

RTL 8 opened on August 13, 2005 as Talpa, following a name dispute with SBS Broadcasting. SBS owned the trademark TV10 and objected to the use of the word Tien. The owner of Tien, Dutch media mogul John de Mol, decided to rebrand the channel as Talpa, the Latin word for "mole", which is mol in Dutch. Subsequently Talpa became the name of De Mol's holding company.

In the first months Talpa shared its channel with Nickelodeon. On December 16, 2006, Nickelodeon switched to The Box and Tien started broadcasting full days.

In December 2006, Talpa and SBS Broadcasting solved their dispute. Talpa was renamed as Tien.

In the summer of 2007, the assets of Talpa Media were sold to RTL Nederland, which meant the end of the Tien television channel. RTL Nederland used the vacated cable spot to launch a new television channel called RTL 8. Also included in the deal were the broadcasting rights for the Dutch football league and radio station Radio 538. Tien closed on August 17, 2007.

RTL Nederland revealed that Tien would be rebranded as RTL 8. Fons van Westerloo, director of RTL Nederland explained that the name of the new RTL channel was chosen as not to conflict with the second largest Dutch commercial television channel, SBS 6. RTL 7 got a makeover as well. RTL 8 got The Oprah Winfrey Show, As the World Turns, and the popular Dutch program Gooische Vrouwen. Furthermore, RTL 8 is going to repeat the popular programmes of the other RTL-channels, previously done by RTL 7.