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 (now Bertelsmann SE & Co. KGaA) – 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 75.1 per cent. The remaining 24.1 per cent of RTL Group are publicly traded on the regulated market (Prime Standard) of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange as well as 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), RTL Klub (Budapest), RTL Televizija (Zagreb)

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

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

Countries
RTL Group operates in 29 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 53 television channels and 28 radio stations in ten countries and content production throughout the world.