RTL Group was created in spring 2000 following the merger of Luxembourg-based CLT-UFA and the British content production company Pearson TV, owned by UK media group Pearson plc.
CLT-UFA itself was created in 1997 when Bertelsmann AG – shareholder of UFA, and Audiofina – shareholder of the historic Compagnie Luxembourgeoise de Télédiffusion (CLT) – merged their TV, radio and TV production businesses.

In July 2001, Bertelsmann became majority shareholder of RTL Group following a stock swap with the Belgian-Canadian holding company Groupe Bruxelles Lambert (GBL). In December 2001, Bertelsmann entered into an agreement with Pearson plc to acquire its 22 per cent stake in RTL Group. Bertelsmann’s interest in RTL Group is now 91.2 per cent. The remaining 8.8 per cent of RTL Group is publicly traded on the Brussels and Luxembourg stock exchanges.

(Selection)
TV:
RTL Television (Cologne), Vox (Cologne), RTL II (Munich), Super RTL (Cologne), M6 (Paris), RTL 4 (Hilversum), RTL-TVI (Brussels), Antena 3 (Madrid), Alpha (Athen), Ren TV (Moscow), RTL Klub (Budapest), RTL Televizija (Zagreb)

Radio:
RTL (Paris), RTL 2 (Paris), Fun Radio (Paris), 104.6 RTL (Berlin), Bel RTL (Brussels), Radio 538 (Hilversum)

Production & Rights Trading:
FremantleMedia (London), FremantleMedia North America (Los Angeles), Talkback Thames (London), UFA Film & TV Produktion (Potsdam), Grundy Television (Sydney), CLT-UFA International (Luxembourg)

Countries
RTL Group operates in 22 countries.
(a selection) Germany, France, USA, The Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Croatia, Hungary, Russia, Spain, Australia

Market Position
RTL Group is the leading European entertainment network with interests in 43 television channels and 31 radio stations in 10 countries and content production throughout the world.