RTL TELEVISION

'RTL' (formerly 'RTL plus') is a German commercial television station distributed via cable and satellite along with DVB-T (Digital Video Broadcasting - Terrestrial, in larger population centers). It belongs to the RTL Group and is, in terms of market share, Germany's largest private free-to-air broadcaster.
It started broadcasting on January 2, 1984 at 17.27 from VHF channel E7 in Luxembourg and , at first, only had a theoretical audience of approx. 200,000. Until 1988, when it moved its headquarters to Cologne, Germany, it was considered a Luxembourg-based station.
A spin-off of the German version of Radio Luxembourg, RTL started with a low budget and many of the early hosts simply presented versions of their radio formats adapted for television. One early success was the quiz show "Ein Tag wie kein anderer" (A Day Like No Other), in which candidates were competing for a dream vacation.
RTL plus was famous in its early years for showing low-budget movies and American hit-shows. It was the number 2 commercial broadcaster, which at the time didn't mean much: Only a limited audience with cable could see the new channels, an effect which led to many Germans going to their neighbours to watch that strange new channel from Luxembourg.
All that changed when RTL moved to Cologne and, in return, received the right to broadcast on terrestrial frequencies. That same year, RTL acquired the first-run right to the prestigious German Bundesliga. Deals with Cannon, which at the time was successful with films like ''Highlander'' and, one year later, with Universal Studios, finally provided first-class movies for the channel.
More and more people started to watch the channel, which soon also became famous for its edgy own productions - a welcome change to the shows on public channels that had become to be perceived as old-fashioned. RTL was notorious for showing 70s soft porn every Saturday night at 23.00.
It became the market leader in the early 90s.
It is now the primary channel of the RTL Group's German television stations, which also include RTL 2, Super RTL, VOX and n-tv.

Contents

Programmes

News / News Magazines

Entertainment

Comedy

Soap operas

Sports

Foreign Series (mostly U.S. Series)

See also

External links

Programmes

News / News Magazines

★ RTL Aktuell main news program broadcast daily at 18:45. The head anchor man is Peter Kloeppel.

★ Explosiv daily tabloid programme with anchors Markus Lanz and Nazan Eckes.

★ Exclusiv celebrity news programme with anchor woman Frauke Ludowig and Leonard Diepenbrock.

★ Stern TV newsmagazine based on the print magazine ''Stern'' hosted by Günther Jauch.

★ Spiegel TV newsmagazine based on the print magazine ''Der Spiegel'' hosted by Stefan Aust and Maria Gresz.

Entertainment

'Current'

★ Wer wird Millionär? German version of Celador format ''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?'' hosted by Günther Jauch

★ Deutschland sucht den SuperStar German version of production sister company Fremantle's ''Idols'' format started in the UK.

★ Let's Dance A German version of ''Strictly Come Dancing'' hosted by Nazan Eckes and Hape Kerkeling

★ Dancing on Ice hosted by Mirjam Weichselbraun and Wayne Carpendale

★ Entern oder Kentern hosted by Sonja Zietlow
'Cancelled'

★ Top of the Pops, the German version of this (now-defunct) British music show.

★ Big Boss A short-lived format in Germany. Fremantle holds international licences for the show, except in the United States.

★ Fear Factor German version of Endemol format hosted by Sonja Zietlow

★ Der Schwächste fliegt! A short-lived German version of the BBC format, ''The Weakest Link''

★ Ich bin ein Star - Holt mich hier raus! German version of Granada format ''I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here!'' hosted by Sonja Zietlow and Dirk Bach

Comedy

★ Alles Atze

★ Freitag Nacht News

★ Alle lieben Jimmy

★ Mitten im Leben

★ Kinder, Kinder

Soap operas

★ Gute Zeiten, schlechte Zeiten adaptation of the Dutch format Goede tijden, slechte tijden

★ Unter Uns

★ Hinter Gittern - Der Frauenknast Adaptation of Prisoner

★ Alles was zählt

Sports

★ Formula One hosted by Florian König and Niki Lauda

★ Ski jumping hosted by Marco Schreyl and Dieter Thoma

★ Boxing hosted by Florian König

Foreign Series (mostly U.S. Series)

★ (as ''CSI - Den Tätern auf der Spur'')

★

★ House (as ''Dr. House'')

★ Bones (as ''Bones - Die Knochenjägerin'')

★ Monk

★ Law & Order

★ Prison Break

★ Kyle XY (upcoming)

See also

★ RTL Group

★ Bertelsmann AG

External links

★ Official Site

★ RTL website