Celebrities Galore RTL Television and N-TV Hosted the First Joint Summer Party in Berlin
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week 26 the RTL Group intranet Newsletter 26 June 2008 Celebrities galore RTL Television and N-TV hosted the first joint Summer Party in Berlin Belgium China revealed on Bel RTL United Kingdom New documentary formats for Five Germany Strong debut for Doctor’s Diary Luxembourg The Tour de France in 16:9 format Celebrities galore RTL Television and N-TV hosted the first joint Summer Party in Berlin COVER: Peter Kloeppel, Angela Merkel and Anke Schäferkordt (from left to right) Belgium China revealed on Bel RTL United Kingdom In the background you can see an impression from the Summer Party in Berlin (Photo montage) New documentary formats for Five Germany Strong debut for Doctor’s Diary Luxembourg The Tour de France in 16:9 format 2 week 26 the RTL Group intranet Relaxed atmosphere, animated conversations At the Summer Party jointly hosted by RTL Television and N-TV in Berlin, Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland presented its recently establi- shed subsidiary, Info Network. Its managers spoke to Backstage, revealing the rationale and strategy behind the establishment of Info Network. Angela Merkel (left) and Anke Schäferkordt Germany - 26 June 2008 Some 600 guests from politics, business, In her welcome speech, Schäferkordt emphasi- society and the media accepted RTL Television zed the special importance of the channel’s and N-TV’s invitation to their first joint Summer main news programme RTL Aktuell, especially Party in Berlin on Wednesday evening. The among young TV audiences, reporting that the evening’s most illustrious visitor was news channel N-TV has as many as six million Germany’s chancellor Angela Merkel, who took viewers a day, including a very high proportion time out from her busy appointment calendar of decision makers. The Berlin studio is “a to stop by the Berlin studio for over an hour of backbone of Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland’s animated conversations with the broadcasters’ political coverage.” RTL Television’s CEO took senior executives. RTL Television’s CEO Anke the opportunity to present Info Network, the Schäferkordt, RTL Television editors in chief latest addition to Mediengruppe RTL Peter Kloeppel and Michael Wulf, N-TV mana- Deutschland, to her guests. Schäferkordt poin- ging director Hans Demmel and Berlin Studio ted out that employees at the Berlin studio Director Peter Kleim (Info Network) gave the were the first to switch to the production subsi- chancellor and all other guests a red-carpet diary as part of the ongoing business transition. reception. A flurry of photographers and camera teams accompanied Berlin’s and Germany’s VIPs as they crossed the red carpet into the site of the Info Network is the newly founded pro- festivities. Guests included various TV presen- duction company for news and magazine ters and actors, along with high-ranking politi- formats within Mediengruppe RTL cians like Dirk Niebel (FDP secretary general), Deutschland. The company produces the Guido Westerwelle (FDP chairman), Horst footage for the news programme on RTL Seehofer (Federal Minister of Food, Agriculture Television, Vox and N-TV, as well as and Consumer Protection), Wolfgang Tiefensee magazine shows like Die 10, Prominent! (Federal Minister of Transport, Building and and Formel Exclusiv. Beyond its core Urban Affairs), Bernd Naumann (State Cultural business, Info Network develops new Minister), Ronald Pofalla (CDU secretary gene- content and pilots for Mediengruppe RTL ral), Hubertus Heil (SPD secretary general), Deutschland and also provides services Reinhard Bütikofer (chairman Bündnis 90 / Die such as sales of video content. Grünen), Ulrich Wilhelm (government spokes- man) and Erwin Huber (CSU chairman). Info Network took up operations on 1 February 2008 and is being expanded Due to the large attendance expected, the gradually. Michael Wulf serves as mana- Berlin studio on Schiffbauerdamm had been ging director of Info Network GmbH, with extended by a large cluster of tents, with an Dirk Rauser acting as his deputy. Info open-air area in the middle, where cool drinks Network is a wholly owned subsidiary of and hot delicacies awaited guests as they Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland. enjoyed the pleasant cool of a gorgeous early- 3 summer evening. week 26 the RTL Group intranet RTL and N-TV’s have just hosted their first move to Cologne-Deutz in summer 2009 will joint Summer Party in Berlin ? What were complete the establishment of the company. your impressions? Peter Kloeppel: I think the premiere was a very What responsibilities and departments will fortuitous combination of a relaxed atmosphe- be handled by Info Network in the future? re and animated conversations against the Michael Wulf: The Info Network will gradually backdrop of a beautiful summer’s day. The come to bundle RTL Television’s news and positive response to the Summer Party showed magazine editorial desks as well as shared us that the combined strength of RTL and N-TV central editorial desks and support functions of is very well received by the powers that be in RTL Television and N-TV step by step. The politics and business. national and international external studios are also affiliated with the new company. The cen- You took the Summer Party as an opportu- tral editorial desks such as the Newsdesk will nity to present Info Network, Mediengruppe handle the planning and production of content RTL Deutschland’s new news and magazine that can be used across various channels. This subsidiary. What is the latest on the step-by- will intensify the joint production and use of step establishment of the business? content, both between RTL’s various editorial Michael Wulf: In the past few months the first desks and between RTL Television and N-TV, few editorial desks at N-TV and RTL Television Vox, Super RTL and RTL II. However, the res- were integrated in Info Network: the Berlin stu- pective channels and editorial desks will conti- dio, the Landesstudio Süd in Munich, as well as nue to bear the editorial responsibility for their the foreign correspondence bureaus in broadcasts and their distinct programming pro- Moscow and Jerusalem. In the months ahead, files. other departments will gradually follow, and the Hans Demmel, Peter Kleim, Peter Kloeppel, Michael Wulf Peter Kloeppel with Hubertus Heil (SPD, left) and Dirk Niebel (FDP, right) Isa Gräfin von Hardenberg and Laurenz Meyer (CDU) Ronald Pofalla (CDU) with Peter Kloeppel and Peter Kleim 4 week 26 the RTL Group intranet One goal of the Info Network is to sell the produced content on to third parties, for example to newspapers’ Web sites. How is the business developing? Michael Wulf: Our customer pool is growing steadily. We’re happy with how things have been developing so far. The Berlin studio played a trailblazing role, since this is where the RTL Television and N-TV editorial desks have already been inte- grated into the Info Network since February. What have your first experiences been like? Peter Kleim: They’ve been good – and this is not such a big change for us: ever since our colleagues from N-TV’s parliament editorial Anke Schäferkordt welcoming the guests office moved in three and a half years ago, we’ve worked together very closely in our offi- ces, across the various channels. What are the advantages, and what challen- ges did you face? Peter Kleim: The advantages are that the research and the shooting can be better coor- dinated and duplication of work can be avoi- ded. In the past, the colleagues were part of different broadcasters or of different editorial desks, now they form a team in Berlin. Nevertheless, it is essential that the correspon- dents retain an affinity with their old editorial teams – that they continue to identify with RTL Aktuell or N-TV and do their work with a pas- RTL Television stars Peter Zwegat and Birgit Schrowange sion. After all, we don’t want anything to chan- ge for the viewers. Angela Merkel in conversation with Laurenz Meyer and Peter Kloeppel 5 week 26 the RTL Group intranet China revealed Belgian French-language radio station Bel RTL broadcasts its two evening news programmes on 23 and 27 June live from China. Beijing 2008 Belgium - 24 June 2008 Monday 23 June’s edition of Bel RTL soir (from 18:00 to 19:00) examined how Belgians view Bel RTL’s listeners will have another treat in China, which will be hosting the Olympic store between 18:00 and 19:30 on Friday, 27 Games this summer. The presenters Barbara June, when Barbara Mertens and Pascal Mertens and Pascal Vrebos interviewed Jean- Vrebos will present a very special programme Michel Saive, who is a member of Belgian’s live from the Belgian Embassy in Beijing that Olympic table tennis team, and welcomed a will be devoted mainly to showing how China host of studio guests including Dominique has opened up culturally and economically Demees, Amnesty International’s China/Tibet since the days of Chairman Mao. coordinator, Samia Patsalides, the leader of a Catholic University of Louvain mission to Asia, and various Chinese who, after studying in Belgium, decided to settle down there. Pascal Vrebos (left) and Barbara Mertens 6 week 26 the RTL Group intranet A whole range of new documentary formats Five wants to continue strengthening its range of non-fiction entertainment and has therefore commissioned a range of new factual formats, comprising series and one-off programmes. Perfect Birth United Kingdom - 24 June 2008 Factual entertainment, commonly referred to as tary will show whether or not their preconcei- ‘docutainment’, is currently one of the hot ved ideas actually tally with reality. trends in international TV, providing entertai- ning, informative programmes that don’t tell fic- Climbing The Giants follows adventurer Guy tional tales, but rather focus on stories featu- Grieve, who travels to Australia to climb one of ring real-life characters, such as people with the world’s tallest trees.