RTL Group: Soon on air in Asia
RTL Group, Europe's largest television entertainment company, will soon begin broadcasting in Asia for the first time. In India, the company will soon operate two English-language pay-TV channels through a joint venture.
The contract has been signed, a spokesperson for the Bertelsmann subsidiary announced on Monday. The partner in India is Reliance Broadcast Network Limited. According to RTL, the deal involves a channel with international reality programs, most of which will be produced by the RTL production company Fremantle Media ("Deutschland sucht den Superstar"). There will also be a channel with action formats aimed primarily at men. Both channels are primarily intended to appeal to the English-speaking population in India's major metropolitan areas. This target group is considered particularly interesting for the advertising industry. The two pay-TV channels are due to go on air this year.
To date, RTL Group has only been active in India with Fremantle Media, which produces "Indian Idol", the Indian counterpart to "Deutschland sucht den Superstar". In Germany, the pan-European RTL Group operates the channels RTL, RTL2, Super RTL, Vox and N-TV. The company is 91.6 percent owned by the German media group Bertelsmann. (SDA)
