RTL Nederland is a Dutch
media network, a subsidiary of the
RTL Group. The media company is located in
Hilversum
Hilversum () is a city and municipality in the province of North Holland, Netherlands. Located in the heart of the Gooi, it is the largest urban centre in that area. It is surrounded by heathland, woods, meadows, lakes, and smaller towns. Hil ...
, although the licences of its
TV stations are issued in
Luxembourg
Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small land ...
.
History
The history of the network dates back to 1989 when dutch minded ''RTL-Véronique'' started airing from Luxembourg. At the time commercial television was prohibited in The Netherlands, but by airing from Luxembourg the law could be bypassed. In the beginning the channel only focused on youth, this changed in 1990 when an agreement was made with Joop van den Ende whose own commercial channel ''TV10'' failed due to the same law and the name of the channel was changed into
RTL 4
RTL 4 (Radio Télévision Luxembourg 4) is a Dutch free-to-cable television channel; it is the most-watched commercial station in the country, popular especially with those aged between 20 and 49. RTL 4 is a general entertainment channel with in ...
. In 1993 a second channel was created named
RTL 5.
In 1995 the two channels were merged in a new joint-venture with
Veronica Association, until then part of the Dutch public broadcasting system. The new joint-venture was named ''Holland Media Group (HMG)'' and consisted of RTL 4, RTL 5, Veronica and the radio station HitRadio Veronica. From 1997 till 1998 HMG participated in ''TV10'', together with
Saban Saban or Šaban may refer to:
People
* Saban (name), for people with the name
* Sabans, a small indigenous ethnic group of Sarawak, Malaysia
* Şaban, a Turkish film character
Other uses
*Saban Capital Group, a private investment firm investing i ...
, but sold its share to
Fox
Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush'').
Twelv ...
. The joint-venture existed until 2001 when the Veronica Association left, leaving their channel and radio station behind, but because they took the trademark the channel and radio station were renamed ''Yorin''.
The company changed its name from ''Holland Media Group'' to ''RTL Nederland'' in 2004, a year later Yorin was renamed again this time to RTL 7. In 2006 the Yorin radio station was sold to SBS Broadcasting.
As of August 2007 the group entered into a new joint-venture with John de Mol, whose own commercial channel was failing at the time. RTL Nederland acquired the channel and
Radio 538, John de Mol's Talpha Media Holding would acquire 26,3% of the shares in RTL Nederland. The acquired channel was renamed RTL 8 that same month. In 2011 John de Mol was forced by the
Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets to sell his share in RTL Nederland when he and
Sanoma
Sanoma Corporation (, formerly SanomaWSOY) is Finland's largest media group. The company has media business in Finland and a learning business in Belgium, the Netherlands, Poland, Sweden, Norway and Spain, among others. The company is headquarte ...
acquired competitor
SBS Broadcasting, taking with him the radio stations
Radio 538,
Radio 10 Gold and
SLAM!FM.
Acquisitions
Over the years the group acquired several other companies, including ''Wentik Events''
(2010, renamed to RTL Live Entertainment), ''Bright''
(2015), ''Buienradar''
(2011), ''Videoland''
(2013), ''Adfactor''
(2017), ''BrandDeli''
(2018), ''Triade Media''
(2015).
Proposed merger
After John de Mol raised his stake in SBS Broadcasting in 2017 to full ownership he sought a partnership with RTL Nederland. In his opinion there wasn't enough space for two major Dutch commercial television networks in the changed media landscape, RTL shut down his offer. However in June 2021 RTL Nederland and Talpa Network announced plans for a merger, pending approval by the
European Commission
The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body ...
and the ''Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets''. In the new conglomerate, RTL Nederland is to hold 70% of the shares and Talpa 30%. ''Talpa Entertainment Productions'' and ''Talpa Concepts'' won't be a part of the merger. Both parties reasoned that a merger was the only solution to an ever growing presence of foreign media parties, giving space to a single commercial Dutch media company that's capable of producing specifically for the Dutch market. Critics however claimed that the failing of Talpa Network is the reason behind the merger. In January 2022 the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets stated that it could not approve the merger as of yet and that further investigation to the consequences of price, quality and innovation is necessary.
Assets
Television
*
RTL 4
RTL 4 (Radio Télévision Luxembourg 4) is a Dutch free-to-cable television channel; it is the most-watched commercial station in the country, popular especially with those aged between 20 and 49. RTL 4 is a general entertainment channel with in ...
, ''oldest channel of the group and their flagship''
*
RTL 5, ''focused on reality and youth''
*
RTL 7
RTL 7 is a Dutch free-to-cable television channel that was launched as ''Veronica'' on 1 September 1995. RTL 7 is RTL Nederland's "men's channel" with action films, reality television about crime and professions, soccer, motorsport and tal ...
, ''focused on sports and the male demographic''
*
RTL 8, ''focused on movies and the female demographic''
*
RTL Z, ''focused on news and documentaries''
*
RTL Crime RTL Crime may refer to:
* RTL Crime (Croatian TV channel), the TV channel broadcasting in Croatia
* RTL Crime (Dutch TV channel), the TV channel broadcasting in the Netherlands
* RTL Crime (German TV channel), the TV channel broadcasting in German ...
, ''digital pay channel focused on crime series and reality''
*
RTL Lounge, ''digital pay channel focused and drama''
*
RTL Telekids, ''digital pay channel focused on children''
Streaming catchup and Video on Demand services
* RTL XL, ''catching up service''
*
Videoland by RTL, ''an
OTT streaming service''
Other
* RTL Live Entertainment
* Ad Alliance, ''advertisement agency''
*
RTL Nieuws B.V. ''news organisation including Buienradar and Bright''
* is a Dutch media brand, focussed on technology, design and style.
References
External links
Official website
{{Television in the Netherlands
RTL Group
Mass media companies established in 1995
1995 establishments in the Netherlands