Even RTL Television’s choice of location was a nod to the Football World Cup, which will take place in an African country for the first time ever. Despite the icy outside temperatures, an African flair pervaded the Matamba Hotel in Phantasialand, a theme park in Brühl by Cologne. RTL Television holds the exclusive live Free-TV broadcasting rights to nine matches at the 2010 Football World Cup in South Africa: led by its own dream team of Jürgen Klinsmann, Jürgen Klopp and Günther Jauch, it will broadcast six preliminary-round matches, two Round-of-16 games and a quarterfinal. “An exciting year in sport lies ahead of us,” said RTL Television CEO Anke Schäferkordt, welcoming the members of the press at the event. Manfred Loppe, head of the Sport department at RTL Television, went on to explain in detail how the matches were drawn, and which matches exactly will be broadcast. One highlight is that the preliminary-round matches will all be shown during prime time, i.e. at 20:30.
“Unfortunately, travelling to South Africa is a relatively expensive option for fans,” says Loppe. “So we decided early on to present our World Cup broadcasts featuring Günther Jauch and Jürgen Klopp from the big fan festivals in Germany.” The moderators will thus be travelling to seven German cities in a special World Cup Truck, and analyse the matches from there. “I look forward to working with Jürgen Klopp,” says Günther Jauch. “He’s incredibly spontaneous, can spin ideas out of a situation and was born with a sense of humour – and the viewers sense that too.” Guests at the event were treated to a taste of this when the two moderators – to prove that they are officially authorised to drive the World Cup – presented their driver’s licenses, including the old ID photos on them. In South Africa, Florian König will provide commentary, and will moderate and analyse the matches with Jürgen Klinsmann. Klinsmann will also visit the teams and interview people. The broadcasts will benefit particularly from Klinsmann’s in-depth knowledge of the German national team.
Football experts Jürgen Klinsmann (left) and Günther Jauch (right)
“In addition to the broadcasting rights for the matches, we have acquired an extensive rights package that allows us to report extensively on all matches in our news programmes,” said Anke Schäferkordt. RTL Television’s chief editor Peter Kloeppel and Ulrike von der Groeben, moderator of the sport segment on RTL Aktuell, picked up on this announcement and explained what this additional coverage will look like. “Naturally, we don’t just plan to talk about football, but will also present the country and its people,” said Peter Kloeppel. “Personal safety and security will be a major topic.“ In Nicole Macheroux-Denault, RTL Television has a correspondent on the ground in Africa who will spotlight these topics. In a video message, she let the journalists at the event know that “South Africa is definitely ready for this World Cup.” The news programs won’t be limited to coverage of the South African tournament itself. “Of course we also want to capture the mood in the participating countries,” promised Kloeppel.
N-TV's chief editor Volker Wasmuth
The N-TV news channel is also focusing its summer programming on football. “Everything’s revolving around football at N-TV these days,” says N-TV’s chief editor Volker Wasmuth,. N-TV will broadcast the German national team’s press conferences and get viewers in the mood for the day’s matches each morning with its World Cup Breakfast. The two Internet portals RTL.de and Sport.de will also cover the year’s big sporting event. In addition to reading detailed reports, Internet users will be able to watch live streams of the matches broadcast by RTL Television.