Young Belgians now ‘plugged’ in

Germany

Eleven Grimme nominations

France

M6 Web launches new web portal for women

United Kingdom

A new format for The Bill

The Netherlands

X Factor is off to a new season

Young Belgians now ‘plugged’ inEusebio Larrea, Executive Producer Plug RTL, on the successful rebranding of the Belgian channel

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29 January 2009

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Young Belgians now plugged’ in

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COVER:Montage with Plug RTL’s logo

the RTL Group intranetweek 05

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“The RTL brand is present but not dominant”On 8 September 2008, Plug TV became PlugRTL, complete with new name, new positioningand new schedule. An examination of the suc-cessful rebranding of RTL-TVI’s small sisterchannel.Belgium - 29 January 2009

Never one to kowtow to superstition, Plug TVwas launched on Friday the 13, back inFebruary 2004. At the time, there was nothingelse like it in Belgium – a channel for 15 to 34year olds that aimed to be different, alternativeand wasn’t afraid to shock. Love it or loathe it,Plug TV was very much part of the RTL Belgiumfamily of channels, albeit a world away frommainstream family channel RTL-TVI.

Its edgy feel found immediate favour withadvertisers, but despite its best efforts thechannel never managed to exceed a 5 per centaudience share. Time for the marketing peopleto do their stuff: give the programmes a goodonce-over, take the temperature of the targetaudience and check the pulse of public expec-tation. Their diagnosis was simple: aside froman edgy look and feel, what viewers wantedmost was flagship programming and high-qua-lity content.

Although Plug TV was pulling in as many vie-wers as the other two Belgian ‘youth’ channelscombined, it wanted to go one step further andbecome an iconic channel for young adults. Inits four years and more on air, Plug TV built upa lot of knowledge about viewer expectations,through audience analyses, surveys and focusgroups. Plug RTL is the result of this accumula-ted experience.

Enter Erwin Lapraille, Deputy Head ofTelevision and Head of Programming, ablyassisted by Eusebio Larrea, Executive

Producer of Plug RTL and his team. Their pri-mary objective? To work on repositioning thechannel in order to break through that all-important 5 per cent threshold. The targetaudience will remain the 15 to 34 age bracket,but the core market will now be 20 to 34 yearolds, heralding a slight shift away from teen-agers towards young adults. This is accompa-nied by a change of name from Plug TV to PlugRTL, a fusion of the high-value-added RTLbrand with the Plug brand, and a sign that thechannel may be less ‘rebellious’ but will have amore relevant, balanced and higher-qualitycontent – perfect for its new core market.

Eusebio Larrea, Executive Producer Plug RTL

Rebranding campaign


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To find out more, Backstage met up withPlug RTL’s Executive Producer EusebioLarrea, who worked on the rebranding. Thediscussion encompassed programme choi-ces, the communication plan and some veryencouraging initial results.

A more relevant and balanced schedule –what does that mean in practice? Firstly I’d like to emphasise that Plug RTL is anevolution rather than a revolution. Plug RTL is avindication of Plug TV, a logical progression.After four years on the air, we have grown upand so have our viewers. We had to sift throughall our experiences and give our viewers whatthey really wanted. Plug RTL is a generationalchannel for a young-adult audience. Lessextreme, more structured, but just as creativeand inventive. What matters to us is that PlugRTL continues to be different from anythingelse in Belgium. We’ve retained the same edgy,spicy, funny feel, while moving away from the‘out-to-shock’ element, which doesn’t interestour audience. Basically, we’ve shifted to moreof a ‘young adult’, less of a ‘teenager’, ethos.

Did you also change the programming?Along with the new name and logo comesimproved content. We’ve kept the best of PlugTV and added new shows and more general-appeal programmes. These are the solid foun-dations underpinning Plug RTL and its new,carefully structured line-up featuring regularlyscheduled content, as you would find on alarge mainstream channel. The process beganover a year ago with marketing and communi-cation teams carrying out studies, surveys andinterviews with young people. Erwin Laprailleheaded up the Plug RTL project and developedthe channel’s schedules to complement thoseof Club RTL and RTL-TVI. Design and produc-tion was all done internally by the Plug team.

Our buzzword for the new 2008/2009 seasonwas ‘lifestyle’. This meant some new departu-res for Plug – many of them had already provento be a great success on the French channelM6 – like cookery shows such as Top Chef, Undîner presque parfait and Le Chef contre atta-que and do-it-yourself formats such as D&COwith the lovely Valérie Damidot and US realityseries Top Design. But the main embodiment ofthe lifestyle concept is the weekly magazineshow of the same name, a 26-minute home-grown Plug RTL show presented by a well-known face from RTL-TVI, Agathe Lecaron.

Obviously this is just for starters. The schedu-les are jam-packed with series like CSI:Miami,How I met your mother, Ghost Whisperer, Myname is Earl, Entourage, Charmed, Skins, The LWord, comedy such as François l’Embrouillethat airs everyday at 20:30 and entertainmentlike La Nouvelle Star, Pékin Express andIncroyable Talent not forgetting Plug’s own-brand shows that really set the tone of thechannel. As well as Lifestyle with AgatheLecaron, each week our production team turnsout music shows Sampler, l’émission musicale,L’Ultratop Singles & L’Ultratop Albums as wellas event programmes such as extreme sportsshow Plug Tribus and Backstage.

Beyond the flagship programmes, how doyou express the core brand values of PlugRTL?Something that’s really important to us is ourvery strong visual identity. For us, the attitude,the spirit, the very essence of Plug RTL comesacross in our look, our jingles and our generalgraphics. Working with Olivier Pairoux, who isthe channel’s Artistic Director as well as a pre-senter, we make a point of emphasising this‘artistic’ element and will continue to do so withour new structured format. It’s no accident thatPlug has picked up many awards in its time,most recently with our Don’t stop the music jin-gle (Rihanna) at the Eyes & Ears Awards inNovember 2008. This season at Plug RTL wehave decided to convey messages to our vie-

Valérie Damidot, presenter of D&CO


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wers to show that this artistic approach can beused to address difficult issues. For example,last December we made a jingle for World AidsDay.

And how did you prepare viewers for thesechanges?We produced a teasing campaign to warn vie-wers about the upcoming change. The aim wasto keep our existing viewers while attractingnew ones. Building on an idea by OlivierPairoux, we developed our own communica-tion campaign, which we launched one monthahead of the rebranding with the slogan “PlugRTL à (re)découvrir” [Plug RTL – (re)discover it].

We broadcast five different ads based aroundthe metaphor of rediscovery. They featuredactors opening a familiar object, such as a frid-ge, a guitar flight case, a car boot, a door in ahotel corridor and so on, several times. Eachtime they opened it, they discovered somethingnew. The underlying idea was: you might thinkyou know Plug TV, but it can still surprise you.The more adult look combined with the myste-ry element gave a different feel. The ads can be

viewed on Youmake.tv. Then in September weproduced six ads which we called ‘dual’ ads asthey each featured two programmes from thechannel’s schedules, an existing one and a newone.

CSI:Miami

Music show Sampler

My name is Earl

Agathe Lecaron, the new iconic face of Plug RTL


Do you have any initial results to report?It was an immediate suc-cess, and there was nooverlap with RTL-TVIprogrammes, so thetotal audience shareamong young viewers ofthe RTL Belgium familyincreased significantly:39.9 per cent in theperiod from 8September 2008 untilDecember 2008 compa-red with 35.7 per cent inthe period from January2008 until 7 September 2008. As for Plug RTLalone, it upped its audience share among

young viewers from 3.4 to 6.6 per cent in thespace of four months,proof if it were neededthat the rebranding stra-tegy was a success.

To cap it all, the adverti-sing market has follo-wed suit and investmentin Plug RTL is up. Wehave always workedhand in hand with our IPcolleagues, with whomwe have a good rela-

tionship. Together weoffer advertisers creative formats… and theyappreciate it!

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In the new logo, the R isback-to-front, hinting that theRTL brand is present but notdominant.

Increase in Plug RTL’s audience share among young viewers since the rebranding

September October November December

3.4

5.4

6.46.6

Source: CIM Audimétrie, 15 to 34, 8 September to 31 December 2008, 18:00 to 23:00

Plug RTL’s Flagship programmes

* Incroyable Talent: 15.5 per cent audience share (Genre: talent show)* Pékin Express: 13.6 per cent audience share (Genre: adventure game show)* Cauet retourne la télé: 13.2 per cent audience share (Genre: entertainment show)* D&CO: 11.3 per cent audience share (Genre: DIY reality show)* Un dîner presque parfait: 11.1 per cent audience share (Genre: cookery reality show)* Les Experts Miami [CSI: Miami]: 8.2 per cent audience share (Genre: US series)* La méthode Cauet: 5.6 per cent audience share (Genre: entertainment show)

Source: CIM Audimétrie, September 2008 to December 2008


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Eleven Grimme nominations for RTLGroupRTL Group companies enter the race for the45th Adolf Grimme Award with eleven nomina-tions, to take place on 3 April in Marl, Germany.Germany - 29 January 2009

The Adolf Grimme Award is one of the mostimportant German TV awards. Since 1964, itawards productions “that uses the specificpossibilities of the medium television in anextraordinary manner and at the same time canserve as exemples regarding content andmethod.”

RTL Television scored four nominations for thisyear’s Adolf Grimme Award. Debt consultantPeter Zwegat in Raus aus den Schulden (Getout of Debt) and the coaching format DieAusreißer Der Weg zurück (The Runaways –The Way Back Home) hosted by ThomasSonnenburg are nominated for theEntertainment/Special award. The two-partevent movie Das jüngste Gericht (JudgementDay) and the new comedy series Doctor’s Diary– Männer sind die beste Medizin (Doctor’s Diary– Men are the best Medicine) are in the runningfor the Fiction/Series & Miniseries award.

UFA’s production firms were nominated foranother seven awards: the Teamworx produc-tions Das Wunder von Berlin (The Miracle ofBerlin), Mogadishu and Mitte 30 (Mid-30s) andUFA Fernsehproduktion’s 12 heißt: Ich liebedich (12 means I love you) were nominated forthe Fiction award.

Nominees in Fiction/Special included NinaHaun, Casting Director at UFA, who was nomi-nated for her work on the films Mitte 30, Diezweite Frau (Arte/WDR), Im Gehege (ZDF),Mogadishu and Einer bleibt sitzen (ARD/BR),

Hanna Herzsprung for her performances inLiesl Karlstadt und Karl Valentin (ARD/BR), Daswahre Leben (ARD/SWR/BR/SF) and theTeamworx production Werther, and JudithKaufmann for her camerawork on the UFAFernsehproduktion production Bella Block –Reise nach China (Trip to China).

Nico Hofmann, Producer and ManagingDirector of Teamworx, says: “We are especiallyproud of the fact that among the many nomi-nees are films from completely different genres,including TV events that tell German historyfrom a new perspective and with great attentionto detail, a production like Mitte 30 which dealswith contemporary problems in society, and thedrama Werther, which enables a new, contem-porary access to classic material.”

Finally, Werther, a film produced by Teamworxwas nominated for the Special Award sponso-red by the State of North Rhine-Westphalia.

The winners of the 45th Adolf Grimme Awardand the Special Award will be announced at apress conference on 25 March 2009; theawards ceremony will be presented on 3 April2009 at theater Marl and is hosted by the Adolf-Grimme Institute.

Werther


Anke Schäferkordtnamed Media Woman of the Year 2008 On 21 January 2009, the first German MediaCongress was held in Frankfurt, and AnkeSchäferkordt gave a keynote on the topic‘Challenges 2009 – What Will Shape the Futureof TV and Advertising?’Germany - 23 January 2009

In her speech, Anke Schäferkordt, ChiefExecutive Officer of RTL MediengruppeDeutschland, touched on the regulation ofcommercial broadcasting, impending adverti-sing bans, changes in media use due to digiti-sation and the resulting fragmentation of themarket. Schäferkordt emphasised that in thecompetition between the media, for examplebetween TV and the online realm, the internet isnot a threat, “but an enormous opportunity thatwe are already beginning to use.” She went onto cite several video sites as examples of howthe internet drives growth.

Anke Schäferkordt said “a core task in 2009 willbe to keep offering content that viewers want tosee.” With a nod to advertisers and mediaagencies, she pointed out that especially in atense economy, prices and discounts shouldn’tbe the only priority – programming quality, andby extension attractive environments for TVadvertising, should also be a consideration.

IP Deutschland’s Managing Director MartinKrapf took part in the subsequent panel discus-sion discussing “Challenges for TV in 2009”with experts including Klaus-Peter Schulz(ProSiebenSat.1 Group), Jan Kühl (El Cartel),Hans-Joachim Strauch (ZDF) and BernhardCromm (ARD Advertising Sales & Services).

At a ceremony that evening, Anke Schäferkordtaccepted the Horizont Award for Media Womanof the Year 2008. Former Premiere CEO GeorgKofler gave the laudatory speech. Schäferkordtaccepted the prize on behalf of her whole teamand thanked all employees for their contribu-

tion and commitment. This marked the 26thanniversary of the Horizont Award. Othershonoured this year were Reinhard Zinkann(Miele) and Peter Figge (Tribal DDB) for theiroutstanding business and personal achieve-ments in companies, agencies and the media.

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Anke Schäferkordt

Panel discussion

Horizont Award


Teva.fr, Groupe M6’s portal for womenAfter Turbo.fr and Deco.fr, Groupe M6 is continuing to develop its range of thematicportals by launching Teva.fr, an entertaining and useful site dedicated to the womanof today. Teva.fr offers advice and information with an outlook that is always positiveand a tone that is always decomplexing.France - 26 January 2009

All the topics that interest women are treatedhere, grouped under eight main headings thatreflect their lifestyles. And so, the heading “Mystyle” deals with fashion and beauty, “My well-being” deals with physical and psychologicalmatters, and “My cuisine” offers recipes andinformation for better cooking and entertaining.

Of course, Teva.fr also has a heading exclusi-vely dedicated to the television programmes onTéva, which is the benchmark station for fema-le audiences. With its journalists and editors,Teva.fr creates true complicity with its Internetusers, who are encouraged to respond to thenews topics featured in the various headings.

As with all of Groupe M6’s sites, Teva.fr distin-guishes itself through its exclusive videocontent, whether excerpts of television pro-grammes or produced specifically for the site.Now a presence on two complementary media,the Téva brand is confirming and reinforcing itslegitimacy and strength with a large feminineaudience. With this launch, Groupe M6 conti-nues to pursue its strategy of developingcontent on all media that is adapted to televi-sion-Internet users’ different modes ofconsumption.

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www.teva.fr


NetEco.com turns 10A meeting place for e-business players, NetEco.com is celebrating its 10th anniver-sary. Created on 22 January 1999 by a team of students that was passionate aboutthe digital economy, this information site remained independent for seven yearsbefore joining the Cyréalis company in 2006, which was integrated in Groupe M6 in 2008.France - 28 January 2009

“Over the last decade, we covered the rise inpower of the digital economy, the reality ofwhich no one would contest: from Altavista toGoogle, from RealNetworks to Dailymotion,from Multimania to Facebook, from Napster toDeezer, from Netscape to Firefox, from Palm tothe iPhone, from Itineris to Orange, these last10 years saw the birth – and sometimes thedisappearance – of many companies we havealways tried to talk about in a positive way,”explains Jérôme Bouteiller, the site’s founder.

As a pioneer in the online press, the site has aneditorial base of more than 30,000 articlesdedicated to the digital economy, nearly a

thousand interviews in which there are almost ahundred video portraits of French Internet pio-neers who share their experience and advicewith the new generation of business creators.The wealth and quality of this content nowattracts nearly 500,000 readers each month.

“More than ever, NetEco.com is closely follo-wing France’s e-business players. With Clubic,Jeuxvideo, Mobinaute and NetEco.com, M6now has editorial sites able to cover every digi-tal news story in France, sites that attract anunequalled audience of 5.7 million qualifiedvisitors,” adds Valery Gerfaud, Director of M6Web.

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www.neteco.com


A new format for The BillITV has announced that for the first time onBritish television it will be running a drama yearround in the 21:00 slot as Talkback Thames produced The Bill is repositioned as a weeklyshow at the heart of the ITV 1 schedule.United Kingdom - 23 January 2009

Later this year the multi-award winning pro-gramme will be re-launched in a post water-shed slot allowing for a grittier, action filledseries in a more traditional home for terrestrialdrama. As the format changes from its currenttwice weekly run, viewers will have an appoint-ment to view each week in a dedicated slot.

Lorraine Heggessey, CEO of Talkback Thames,says: “This is a huge vote of confidence fromITV in the show and is a genuine first on UKtelevision. We are incredibly proud of the showand we look forward to embracing the newopportunities this will bring.”

The police drama celebrated its 25th anniver-sary last year, continuing to deliver intelligent,compelling and topical drama to peak audien-ces of over six million. The move to 21:00 willenable the series to build on its strengths.Unique in always telling the narrative from thepolice point of view, The Bill will maintain itsreputation for telling stories with integrity aboutits blue collar heroes and the challenges theyface, digging deeper than ever before into thereality of policing the streets of modern Britain.

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The Bill

Lorraine Heggessey, CEO of Talkback Thames


Revamping Five USFive US is to be renamed Five USA as part ofthe project that has seen all of Five’s channelsundergo a branding refresh. United Kingdom - 26 January 2009

From 16 February, the newly-named channelwill have a completely new on and off air lookand will contain a mix of returning, popularAmerican shows including drama, films andcomedy, plus brand new acquired programmesespecially for Five USA.

Jeff Ford, Five’s Director of Digital Channelsand Acquisitions, says: “I’m delighted with thelook and feel of the refreshed channel and thegreat line up of exclusive programming.Hannah Barnes and the team have alreadymade a huge impact with Fiver.”

Hannah Barnes, Director of Programmes forFive USA and Fiver, says: “The new brandreflects the energy, pulse and guts of the USA’sgreat cities. I’m delighted with its tone of voice,which echoes perfectly the enhanced program-ming offering.”

Nol Davis, Five’s Head of Creative Services,says: “In partnership with Dixon Baxi, we havecreated a bolder, more colourful and energeticbrand that better reflects the channel’s aspira-tion. We believe the new name and look alsocomplements the younger, faster, louder brandof its sister channel Fiver.”

Five USA has secured the United Kingdom pre-miere of The Beast, starring Patrick Swayze asunorthodox, undercover FBI agent CharlesBarker and Travis Fimmel as Ellis Dove,Barker’s rookie partner. The series from SonyPictures Television is an action-packed, grip-ping and gritty drama that exposes the physical

and mental dangers of going undercover tocrack crime. The eagerly-anticipated secondseries of acclaimed comedy 30 Rock also laun-ches exclusively on Five USA. The series hasthis month swept the boards at the covetedGolden Globes, scooping awards for BestComedy Series, Best Actress in a Comedy(Tina Fey) and Best Actor in a Comedy (AlecBaldwin). Additionally, Five USA will exclusive-ly transmit the seventh and final series of thecritically-acclaimed hit series The Shield. Thefinal exploits of Detective Vic Mackey played byMichael Chiklis, and his corrupt strike teamcome to a shocking conclusion in the rivetingfinal season of the award-winning series.

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Logo Five USA

Jeff Ford, Five’s Director of Digital Channels and Acquisitions


Deutschland sucht den Superstar in 3DAs season six of Deutschland sucht den Superstar kicks off, in addition to comprehensive video offerings, fans will be treated to a new community with special features such as a Superstar-3D world.Germany - 27 January 2009

From now on, fans of Deutschland sucht denSuperstar may view the broadcasts as livestreams on the internet at RTL.de. Also, anewly created 3D community allows fans toexperience the show along with others in a “vir-tual show studio” patterned after the original,and to interact with others in the community.Highlight videos can be viewed around theclock on the virtual stage following the broad-cast. Fans will also have access to a “backsta-ge room”, with chat rooms and content from allRTL Television magazines dealing withDeutschland sucht den Superstar.

A dedicated video area on RTL.de offers vie-wers short video-clips of all the highlights, aswell as exclusive video blogs with backstagereports. The comprehensive offering ofGermany’s most popular music show series willalso be available to fans at Clipfish.de, on adedicated Deutschland sucht den Superstarchannel. And anyone who’s missed a showcan watch the complete broadcast via video-on-demand at RTLnow.de.

Viewers can also call up highlight videos, alongwith the latest news and information about theshows, the judges, and the contestants whileon the road, via the RTL mobile portal atMobil.rtl.de. Once the themed shows(Mottoshows) start, RTL Interactive’s editorialstaff will produce a live ticker to accompany theshow broadcast. This will allow users who areunable to follow the show on live TV to stayabreast of events such as contestants’ perfor-mances and the judges’ verdicts. This seasonalso marks the first time that users can takepart in live voting via the RTL mobile portal.

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The new 3D world of Deutschland sucht den Superstar


New soap charactersintroduced onlineFrom 28 January, the main cast of the dailysoap Unter uns on RTL Television will have twonew main characters. The two newcomers areintroduced in eight exclusive short “webisodes”on RTL.de.Germany - 28 January 2009

Michelle “Micki” Fink, a teenager played by 17-year-old Joy Lee Juana Abiola, is cool, athleticand rebellious. She hides her true feelingsbehind the façade of a tough, unapproachableteenager. Her father in the series, high-schoolteacher Henning Fink, is played by AndreasZimmermann, 43, a Swiss actor who has hadparts in the series Alarm for Cobra 11 amongother appearances. In the daily soap Unter uns,he will play the role of a humorous, good-loo-king, but strict teacher who will have numerousfemale hearts on Schillerallee beating higher.

Parallel to the TV broadcast from 28 January,there is an online extension to the series: atUnteruns.de, eight webisodes produced exclu-sively for the internet give insights into theexplosive events leading up to the appearanceof Henning and Micki Fink on the scene: Whydid Henning and Micki have to leave theirhometown Dortmund in such a hurry to moveto Schillerallee in Cologne? What does policeofficer Rebecca Matern (Imke Brügger) knowabout this? And who is Henning’s ex-girlfriendwho gives the “refugees” temporary shelter?

Rainer Wemcken, Managing Director of GrundyUFA, says: “We expect these online offeringswill give Unter uns even more appeal. Many ofour viewers spend a lot of time on the Net – andwe want to keep them as well entertained withexciting background stories, games and surpri-ses online as on TV. That is why we are inves-ting and developing various tools for all of ourformats that are tailored to the series in eachcase. The internet opens up numerous excitingoptions for telling stories that wouldn’t havebeen possible in the same way on television.”

Matthias Büchs, a member of the RTLInteractive management and Head of theOnline and Mobile department, says: “Video onthe Web is the growth engine that drives onlineadvertising. RTL franchises like Unter uns andGZSZ are excellently suited for linking and tel-ling stories on the Internet using exclusivevideo content designed especially for the Web.In addition, fans get extra online features tyingin to their series, which in turn boosts their inte-rest in upcoming episodes on TV.”

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Henning and "Micki" Fink

Joy Lee Juana Abiola playing Micki Fink


Off to series twoThe second series of the hit show X Factor continues in the Netherlands after a successful launch earlier this month. Its premiere was RTL 4’s number one show of the day, performing over 50 per cent higher than the RTL 4 prime time average.The Netherlands - 28 January 2009

This year’s judges are Gordon, AngelaGroothuizen, Stacey Rookhuizen and Eric vanTijn. The show is presented by the two hostsWendy van Dijk and Martijn Krabbe. The firstepisode was broadcast on 16 January, attrac-ting 1.4 million viewers, or 27 per cent of themarket. The second episode on 23 Januaryscored 1.3 million viewers for a market share of24.1 per cent.

On the Internet, RTL Nederland has set upa special page dedicated to the show:Xfactor.nl. Here, fans are invited to discuss the

latest happenings inthe show, read addi-tional informationabout the contestants,and take a special quiz(coming soon). Episodesalready broadcast to TV may beviewed as video on demand at RTLGemist.nl.

The next episode will be broadcast on30 January at 20:30 on RTL 4.

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The jury: Gordon, Angela Groothuizen, Stacey Rookhuizen and Eric van Tijn

Check out

Xfactor.nl


Focus on seriesThis spring, RTL Klub sets out to win over viewers with series. Several of the channel’stried and tested favourites will also be returningto the screen. Hungary - 23 January 2009

In the upcoming spring season RTL Klub plansto strengthen its position both with returningprogrammes and with new shows. PéterKolosi, the channel’s Programming Director,announces that RTL Klub has pulled together aline-up of series that is even stronger than lastyear’s, when choice was affected by the WGAstrike in the US Among other things, viewerswill be treated to shows that only debuted inthe USA a few months ago, including episodesof The Mentalist, Terminator: The Sarah ConnorChronicles, Fringe, Standoff and Damages.

Besides series, which will rule the screen fournights a week, the channel will also pay specialattention to films: Sunday night will remain amovie night on RTL Klub. In addition, thebroadcaster has earmarked Wednesdays forairing international blockbusters (such as thelatest episode of Star Wars) and several otherfilms, in the making of which RTL Klub partici-pated as a co-production partner. Kolosi men-tions Megy a gozös (Train Keeps a Rollin’),Zuhanórepülés (Nosedive) and the sequel toMacskafogó (Cat City) as examples. Apart fromall this, RTL Klub will dedicate the upcomingseason to event television, which means thatprogrammes will be linked to a particular event.For instance, 31 January will be Diana Daywhen the channel’s programmes will tie in to an

exhibition presenting the life of the Princess. Inwhat has become a tradition, the channel willprovide live coverage of the Oscar gala. It willalso air A királyno (The Queen), the final roundof the combined beauty contests (Miss Worldand Miss Universe Hungary), for which prepa-rations are already underway, and which isscheduled to air in May.

In addition, several “oldies but goodies” willreturn to the screen, such as Showder Klub(Stand up comedy Club), A Széf (Take it orLeave It), and Gálvölgyi-show (The GálvölgyiShow). Vacsoracsata (Come dine with me –celebrity version) will also be continued, Kolosiadds.

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Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles

The Mentalist


Belgian Conseil d’Etat confirms RTL Group’s positionThe Conseil d’Etat, the Highest Administrative Court in Belgium, notified CLT-UFAand RTL Group on 20 January 2009 of its decision regarding the licences for the TVprogrammes RTL-TVI and Club RTL.Luxembourg - 22 January 2009

The Belgian Media Authority CSA had decidedin November 2006 that TVI S.A., subsidiary ofCLT-UFA, was broadcasting the programmesRTL-TVI and Club RTL without a media licencesince 1 January 2006 and therefore imposed afine of EUR 500,000 onto TVI S.A. In its deci-sion of 15 January 2009, the Conseil d’Etatannulled the decision of the CSA in its entiretyand confirmed that the two programmes werevalidly operated by CLT-UFA.

RTL Group welcomes the decision by theConseil d’Etat. The decision does not onlyconfirm RTL Group’s position that the TV pro-grammes RTL-TVI and Club RTL have alwaysoperated under valid Luxembourgish licences,in line with the European TV Without Frontiersdirective. It also endorses, in a more generalway, the validity of CLT-UFA’s cross-border TVservices and the concession agreement withthe Luxembourgish Government which wasrenewed in February 2007.

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The state of hospitals in FranceAlways concerned about raising questions that interest, worry and fascinate the French,RTL Radio will devote the entire day of 2 February to address the issues in a news topicthat is making headlines in France: hospitals and their chronic lack of financing.France - 26 January 2009

Number one in Ile-de-France as wellNumber one in all audience ratings on the national level, RTL Radio France confirmsits leading position among listeners in the Ile-de-France area and stands far ahead of the radio station in the number two spot (September – December 2008).France - 23 January 2009

Saturday evening showdownOn Saturday evening, Deutschland sucht den Superstar and Ich bin ein Star – Holtmich hier raus! attracted young viewers in droves: as many as 8.47 million viewerswatched as Ingrid van Bergens was elected ‘queen of the jungle’.Germany - 26 January 2009

It’s raining prizes The Teamworx production Das Wunder von Berlin and UFA Entertainment’s clip showClipmania have won prizes at the renowned New York Festivals. Talkback Thames walkedaway from the Broadcast Awards in Britain with the prize for ‘Best Independent ProductionCompany’.Germany / United Kingdom - 26 January 2009

The Brit Awards 2009 With a few weeks to go before The Brit Awards airs in the United Kingdom, more than 15 territories have already renewed their rights to the extravaganza. Nominees, presentersand performers were confirmed last week.United Kingdom - 27 January 2009


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In-house production gets good ratings3.2 million viewers watched the broadcast of Días Sin Luz, a co-production betweenAntena 3 Films and Ficciona Media, on Antena 3 on Sunday evening.Spain - 27 January 2009

200 times FrauentauschSince July 2003, a number of brave women have dared to step into someone else’slife for ten days, swapping their families and having great adventures in the process.RTL II airs the 200th episode of Frauentausch on 29 January.Germany - 29 January 2009

150 hours of content go to the Middle EastFremantleMedia Enterprises announced a major sales success with the multi-chan-nel pan-Arabic broadcaster, Middle East Broadcasting Center. In addition to thesenew sales, FME has also brokered renewals for Project Runway and She’s Got theLook with the company. United Kingdom - 29 January 2009

Exciting, emotional and realistic On 29 January 2009 at 22:15 Sat.1 will broadcast the first of 27 episodes of the newTeamworx series Klinik am Alex. Germany - 29 January 2009


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People

Appointment in communications managementFrance - 28 January 2009

Florence Jammes has joined the RTL family ofFrench radio stations in France. She has been putin charge of public relations for RTL and IP, and willcarry out her responsibilities alongside communi-cations director Sophie Déroulède.

A holder of a Master’s degree in managementsciences from Université Paris-Dauphine, FlorenceJammes, 30, began her career at ClubMéditerranée as finance manager (2001-2004).She then held the position of project manager inevents planning and public relations at SoucoupeSonique Evénements (2004-2007). Since 2007,Florence Jammes was in charge of events planningand public relations at Havas Sports &Entertainment.

Florence Jammes

http://backstage.rtlgroup.frhttp://backstage.rtlgroup.comhttp://backstage.rtlgroup.de

PublisherRTL Group

45, Bd Pierre Frieden

L-1543 Luxembourg

Editor, Design, Production

RTL Group

Corporate Communications and Marketing

Documents

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