The Alpha Deal Gerhard Zeiler and Dimitris Contominas Presenting RTL Group’S Acquisition of Alpha Media Group in Athens
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24 September 2008 week 39 The Alpha deal Gerhard Zeiler and Dimitris Contominas presenting RTL Group’s acquisition of Alpha Media Group in Athens Germany United Kingdom 35 nominations for the Five unveils new look German TV Awards 2008 France RTL Television and N-TV M6 Kid is innovating, broadcast an US election special kids will love it week 3 COVER: Gerhard Zeiler, CEO of RTL Group, and Dimitris Contominas, RTL Group’s co-shareholder in Greece, presented the deal in Athens. 2 week 39 the RTL Group intranet Value-creating opportunity RTL Group acquires a 66.6 per cent majority shareholding in the Greek broadcasting company Alpha Media Group. Logo of Alpha TV Luxembourg / Athens - 23 September 2008 RTL Group, the leading European entertainment With the closing of the deal, RTL Group will enter network, announced on Tuesday 23 September the promising Greek TV market. The country’s net that it has signed an agreement with Dimitris TV advertising market grew from approximately Contominas, the current owner of Alpha Media EUR 300 million in 2001 to more than EUR 500 mil- Group, to acquire a 66.6 per cent majority share- lion in 2007 and is projected to deliver annual holding in the Greek broadcasting company for growth of 6 to 7 per cent in the medium-term futu- EUR 125.7 million. Under the terms of the deal, re. Alpha Media Group is the number three broad- RTL Group will occupy five of the nine seats on the casting company in Greece and comprises the Alpha Media Group Board of Directors and will national TV channel Alpha TV, the regional TV chan- have the right to nominate the Chief Executive nel Cosmos TV (Thessaloniki), the radio stations Officer and Chief Operating Officer of the compa- Alpha 98.9 and Palmos 98.8 and Plus Productions, ny, while Mr Contominas will nominate the Alpha TV’s in-house production company. Alpha Chairman of the Board of Directors. The transac- Media Group currently generates annual revenue tion is subject to approval by the Greek of approximately EUR 100 million. Competition Commission and is expected to close in October or November. In the first half of 2008, Alpha TV improved its total audience share to 14.5 per cent from 13.6 per cent Gerhard Zeiler, Chief Executive Officer of RTL in 2007 and currently ranks third in the Greek mar- Group, comments: “The acquisition of Alpha ket. In the commercial target group of 15- to 44- Media Group provides a unique opportunity to year-old viewers, the channel also increased its create value – for viewers and advertisers in Greece audience share, to 12.7 per cent (2007: 11.5 per as well as for our company. Alpha Media Group cent), and has become the number two in prime has a solid market position already, and as the lea- time. With a TV advertising market share of 16.5 ding European entertainment network we will per cent (January to June 2008) Alpha TV currently contribute our expertise and experience to building ranks third among Greek broadcasting companies. a strong broadcasting company in an attractive market in close co-operation with our local co-sha- reholder Dimitris Contominas.” Dimitris Contominas, who will become the Chairman of the Alpha Media Group Board of Directors, says: “I’m delighted to announce this strategic alliance with the most successful pan- European broadcasting company. This partnership is an important moment to lead Alpha Media Group into the next phase of its development. Together, based on RTL Group’s international TV proficiency and our knowledge of the local market, we will develop a solid, step-by-step business plan.” Gerhard Zeiler, Dimitris Contominas and Lakis Lazopoulos, 3 host of Alpha TV’s Al Tsadiri News show week 39 the RTL Group intranet The press conference stage Gerhard Zeiler and Dimitris Contominas Bakel Walden, Elmar Heggen, Oliver Herrgesell, Gerhard Zeiler, Lakis Lazopoulos, Dimitris Contominas, Andreas Walker and Henning Tewes Employees of Alpha Media Group listening during the staff meeting at Alpha TV High level of interest from the Greek media at the press conference in Athens 4 week 39 the RTL Group intranet Geographical expansion of RTL Group since 2000 At a glance Today, RTL Group has interests in 44 television channels and 32 radio stations in ten European countries and content production throughout the world. The leading European entertainment network has been built mainly by successful launches of TV channels and by successively gaining majority shareholdings in its major operations. November 2007 RTL Group purchases 50 per cent of the shares of Content Union to which the joint venture partner Continental Finance Group contributes four own produced Russian thematic chanels. September 2007 The closing of the asset deal between RTL Group and John de Mol’s Talpa Media Holding brings the Dutch radio station Radio 538 into the Group; Talpa Media receives a minority stake in RTL Nederland. August 2007 Launch of the TV channel RTL 8 in the Netherlands. December 2006 RTL Television in Germany launches three digital thematic channels – RTL Crime, RTL Living and Passion. October 2006 Launch of the digital channels Five US and Five Life (now: Fiver) in the UK. November 2005 RTL Group increases its shareholding in the German news channel N-TV to 100 per cent July 2005 RTL Group acquires the remaining 35.4 per cent shareholding in the UK television channel Five, taking RTL Group's shareholding to 100 per cent. July 2005 Acquisition of a 30 per cent minority shareholding in the Russian TV network Ren TV. April 2004 Launch of RTL Televizija in Croatia. In June 2004, RTL Group increases its shareholding to 58 per cent and in October 2006 to 74 per cent. February 2004 RTL Group launches the third free-TV channel in Belgium, Plug TV (now: Plug RTL). October 2003 Via FremantleMedia, RTL Group acquires the Australian television production company Crackerjack. 5 week 39 the RTL Group intranet August 2002 RTL Group acquires Holtzbrinck’s TV and radio activities in Germany, including a 47.3 per cent stake in the German news channel N-TV. September 2000 RTL Group increases its stake in Grupo Antena 3 to 16.23 per cent. Today, RTL Group holds just over 20 per cent in Grupo Antena 3. July 2000 The merger of CLT-UFA and Pearson Televison, a London based content production company, creates Europe’s leading integrated broadcaster and content provider: RTL Group. As a part of the merger, Pearson Group’s stakes in the Spanish TV and radio company Grupo Antena 3 (10 per cent) and in the UK broadcaster Five (29.26 per cent) are brought into RTL Group. Pearson Television and the German UFA Group are combined to form the worldwide production arm of RTL Group which adopts the new company name FremantleMedia in 2001. June 2000 Acquisition of the outstanding 11 per cent of the leading German commercial TV channel RTL Television, bringing total ownership to 100 per cent. June 2000 Acquisition of the UK TV production company Talkback Productions. May 2000 CLT-UFA increases its stake in the German TV channel Vox to 99.7 per cent, acquiring a 24.9 per cent stake from Canal Plus. March 2000 Purchase of the outstanding 35 per cent of HMG (Holland Media Groep; now: RTL Nederland), bringing the total stake to 100 per cent. February 2000 CLT-UFA acquires Warburg Pincus’ 6.37 per cent stake in Five, raising its total shareholding in Five to 35.37 per cent. January 2000 CLT-UFA acquires an additional 2 per cent stake in French TV channel M6, bringing its total stake to 42.2 per cent. Today, RTL Group owns a 48.5 per cent economic interest in Groupe M6 and has been recognised as the principal shareholder of the group by the French media regulator CSA. 6 week 39 the RTL Group intranet German TV Awards 2008: RTL Group companies score 35 nominations The Deutscher Fernsehpreis (German TV Awards) 2008 will be presented on 11 October. On 18 September, the nominees in the award’s 22 categories were announced. RTL Group com- panies lead the list of nominations both among broadcasters and among production companies. Germany - 19 September 2008 Since 1999, ARD, ZDF, RTL and Sat 1 have RTL Television CEO Anke Schäferkordt says: presented the German TV Awards to honour “It feels a bit unfamiliar for RTL Television to top outstanding achievements in television. Now, the list of nominations. I’m thrilled for our edito- the nominees for the 2008 awards are in. The rial teams. The nominations provide richly nine judges headed by Lutz Carstens made deserved recognition for the passion our RTL their selections from some 1,200 programmes colleagues and producers have devoted to the submitted in 22 categories. programs.” RTL Television alone received 20 nominations In non-fiction programming, the RTL Group for one of the coveted TV awards, putting it first channels Vox and RTL II are contenders for among German broadcasters. As well as the Best Documentary, Best Reportage and Best two TV movies Die Jagd nach dem Schatz der Information Show. Nibelungen (The Hunt for the Nibelung Treasure) and Das jüngste Gericht (The Last On production side, the UFA group reaped Judgement), RTL Television’s new series twelve nominations in nine categories for pro- Doctor‘s Diary, the two real-life formats ductions by UFA Fernsehproduktion, Teenager außer Kontrolle – Letzter Ausweg Teamworx and Grundy Light Entertainment or Wilder Westen (Teenagers out of Control – Wild for the achievements of actors, directors, wri- West as a Last Resort) and Die Ausreißer – Der ters and composers in UFA productions.