Owned by RTL Group Founder RTL Group Owner RTL Group | Audience share 9.8% (2016, dwdl.de) Founded 1984 Headquarters Cologne | |
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Launched 2 January 1984; 33 years ago (1984-01-02) Network Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland Picture format 576i 16:9 (SDTV)
1080i (HDTV) Slogan Willkommen zuhause (Welcome Home) Motto Willkommen zuhause (Welcome Home) TV shows Gute Zeiten - schlechte, Deutschland sucht den Superstar, Alles was zählt, Das Supertalent, Unter Uns Profiles | ||
Rtl television senderident 1992
RTL Television (formerly RTL plus), or simply RTL, is a German commercial television network distributed via cable and satellite, as well as via digital terrestrial (DVB-T) in more highly populated areas. It is owned by the RTL Group and is, in terms of market share, Germany's largest private free-to-air broadcaster.
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- Rtl television senderident 1992
- News news magazines
- Current
- Former
- Former American soap operas
- Sport
- References
The channel started broadcasting on 2 January 1984 at 17:27 from VHF channel E7 (system B, colour PAL) in Luxembourg. It only had a theoretical audience of approximately 200,000 until 1988, when it moved its headquarters to Cologne, Germany; prior to this it was considered a Luxembourg-based station.
RTL, which began as a spin-off of the German version of Radio Luxembourg, 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 holiday.
RTL plus was famous in its early years for showing low-budget films and American programmes. In 1988, it was the number 2 commercial broadcaster.
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 rights to the prestigious Fußball-Bundesliga. Deals with Cannon, which at the time was successful with films like Highlander and, one year later, with Universal Studios finally provided more high-profile films for the channel. In 2012, RTL made a deal with Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures to air films from Walt Disney Pictures, Walt Disney Animation Studios (including Disneytoon Studios), Pixar Animation Studios, Disneynature, Marvel Studios, Lucasfilm and DreamWorks Pictures (until distribution switched to Universal Studios in 2016).
The current slogan "Willkommen zuhause", which means Welcome Home in English, was introduced in 2015. It replaced the former slogan "Mein RTL", which means My RTL in English.
It earned quite a lot of criticism, the channel is accused of faking and scripting reality and live shows.
It is now the primary channel of the RTL Group's German television stations, which also include RTL II, Super RTL, VOX, n-tv and RTL Nitro.