Compagnie Luxembourgeoise de Télédiffusion

The Compagnie Luxembourgeoise de Télédiffusion ( CLT for short ) was a Luxembourg private broadcaster and owner of various European private television and radio stations and, among other things, the founder of the German-speaking radio Luxembourg and the German private television station RTL .

The company was founded in 1931 under the name Compagnie Luxembourgeoise de Radiodiffusion (CLR) for the operation of radio stations, was a founding member of the European Broadcasting Union in 1950 and existed from 1954 to 2000 under the name CLT, which was later adapted to television. In 1997, through the merger with the German UFA Film & TV Produktion GmbH Hamburg, the Luxembourgish CLT-UFA was created, which finally became today's RTL Group in 2000 through the acquisition and merger with Pearson TV , the former TV division of the British media group Pearson .

history

radio

With the help of French investors, Compagnie Luxembourgeoise de Radiodiffusion was founded on May 30, 1931 as one of the first private broadcasters in Europe. Initially, a radio program was broadcast across Europe via long wave , and from 1938 also via short wave . This could also be received via medium wave since 1950 and via VHF from 1960 . The German-language radio program Radio Luxemburg , which has been successful for years , was started in 1957.

Activities in the radio sector were continuously expanded in the late 1980s and 1990s. So were u. a. started the German 104.6 RTL , RTL Baden-Württemberg and converted Radio Luxemburg into the oldies broadcaster RTL Radio . In France the radio programs RTL , Fun Radio and in September 1991 M40 , in Great Britain Atlantic 252 , in Belgium Radio Contact , in the former Czechoslovakia in January 1993 RTL Praha and for the Netherlands RTL 4 Radio .

watch TV

In 1954 the exclusive rights of use for television were acquired in Luxembourg . As a result, the name was changed to Compagnie Luxembourgeoise de Télédiffusion . This first CLT television program called RTL Télévision began broadcasting in 1955 and broadcast from Luxembourg in French to southern Belgium and eastern France. With RTL Hei Elei was in 1969 launched the first weekly television broadcast in Luxembourgish.

CLT has been involved in the emerging private broadcasting industry in Central and Northern Europe since the 1980s. The first German CLT program RTLplus (later simply RTL) was started in 1984 , which was initially only available terrestrially in Saarland and is now one of the most important European media companies.

Other TV channels followed, such as the French M6 in 1987 , the Dutch RTL 4 in October 1989 , the German RTL II and the Dutch RTL 5 in 1993 . In addition, RTL TVI was founded for Belgium and RTL TV for Luxembourg . The German television broadcaster Super RTL was founded together with the Walt Disney Company in 1995 - each of them shared half of the shares. This was followed by RTL 7 in 1995 , and stakes in British Channel 5 and Dutch Veronica .

Former ENEX logo

In 1993, the European News Exchange SA ( ENEX for short ) was established under the umbrella of the CLT of RTL , RTL 2 , RTL 4 , RTL 5, M6 , RTL in order to organize the exchange of news with other private European television companies, taking advantage of the further development of satellite technology TV and RTL TVI founded. The managing director was the former RTL presenter Nic Jakob .

Press

Activities began as early as the 1980s, particularly in the print media sector. The CLT acquired financially troubled magazines and publishers and, with its support, allowed them to regain strength. Examples are the French health magazine Top Santé and the British Top Sante Health & Beauty . In December 1990, CLT became a shareholder in the French publishing company Calmann Lévy , which was one of the best-known publishing houses in France - from which the high-circulation magazine Télé Star came from .

Film and television productions

CLT was particularly active in film and television productions in Europe and North America. For example, they participated in the German production company Elf 99 , whose eponymous program was first broadcast on RTL and then on VOX and was a program supplier for the MDR and the ORB .

In France one held a stake in the VCF , which produced sitcoms and entertainment programs for various broadcasters. They were also involved in the US company Saban Entertainment .

owner

Since a pact concluded in 1974, Audiofina , the Belgian Groupe Bruxelles Lambert (GBL) and the French advertising group HAVAS have been the main shareholders of a holding company with 31.55 percent . In addition, the FRATEL Group, which belonged to Audiofina and the Bertelsmann Group, the French Banque de Paris des Pays-Bas (Paribas), the Luxembourg Audiolux and the French insurance company Union des Assurances des Paris (UAP) were shareholders (as of February 1994).

CLT-UFA

In 1997, the CLT broadcaster entered into a joint venture with the traditional German production company Universum Film (UFA) under the collective name CLT-UFA , which was owned equally by Pargesa Holding SA and Bertelsmann . The group, whose headquarters remained in Luxembourg, last owned 22 television and 18 radio stations in Europe and continued to be active in the production business and in rights trading.

Since its inception, CLT-UFA has increased the stake in the Polish RTL 7 , the French M6 and RTL 9 , the British Channel 5 and the German TV broadcaster VOX . She also left Premiere in 1999 , in which CLT was indirectly involved through Bertelsmann .

RTL Group

Through the merger with Pearson Television , a competing production company that was bought from Pearson PLC , the international Luxembourg-based RTL Group was created in 2000 , of which the German UFA GmbH remained as a subsidiary and part of the FremantleMedia production division .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h} Infosat No. 71 (No. 2/1994), Article CLT strikes back , p. 16 ff.
2. ↑ ^{a b} annual report of the CLT-UFA 1999  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. at pargesa.ch (PDF file; 24 kB)