15 Years of RTLII Jochen Starke Celebrates the Anniversary
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week 11 the RTL Group intranet Newsletter 15 years of RTLII Jochen Starke celebrates the anniversary France RTL Radio France at the heart of local elections United Kingdom Five secures new face of property and architecture Germany Success participation Formula 1 Live on the Internet The Netherlands New reality show: 71 Noord COVER: Mixture of RTLII programmes. week 11 the RTL Group intranet RTL II celebrates its fifteenth anniversary On 6 March 1993 at 06:09 in the morning, RTL II went on air. Backstage spoke to RTL II CEO Jochen Starke fifteen years later. Jochen Starke Germany - 6 March 2008 The past 15 years have been formative, bold of 1995, the channel had a technical reach of and irreverent: Big Brother moved the nation 80.5 percent throughout Germany. The positive with its unsparing look at real, unadulterated response elicited at press screenings by RTL2’s life, and sparked many a discussion. Numerous own production Rohe Ostern (No Panic) anime series cast their spell on countless chil- prompted the comedy to first be released to dren, and the rise of famous names such as movie theatres in February 1996, before even- Verona Pooth is bound up with RTL II. 24 and tually being broadcast to TV screens on RTL2. Heroes are just two of many examples for unu- In March 1996 another RTL2 own production, sual TV series that the Munich-based TV chan- Der Sandmann (The Sandman), won the Adolf nel has brought to German living-room screen. Grimme Award in Gold. In January 1997, RTL2 aired the first edition of The Dome. Today, The “We will continue to seek out our own path in Dome is Europe’s biggest music show. In German television. Our aim: great and popular October, the film Die Maske (The Mask) drew programming,” says Jochen Starke. “15 years 4.49 million viewers, setting a new viewer aren't an eternity - but they were eventful years record for the channel. that we have reason to be proud of. We will continue to help shape the future of television In 1999, RTL2 became RTL II. The start of the with our programming and our employees.” series Stargate with 4.34 million viewers overall and 23.6 percent of the relevant target demo- The success of the first broadcast from graphic is still the most successful launch of a Luxembourg on 6 March, 1993 was attributable series in the channel’s history. In March 2000 to RTL 2’s then managing director and current RTL II made TV history with Big Brother, beco- RTL Group CEO Gerhard Zeiler and some 80 ming the first channel in Germany to establish employees. At 06:09, the channel broadcast its the “real life” format. When Verona Feldbusch first film, Ein reizender Fratz (Funny Face) star- moved into the Big Brother house, she pushed ring Walter Matthau, Julie Andrews and Tony RTL II’s viewer ratings to a new high: 7.03 mil- Curtis. The first Action News arrived in German lion people tuned in to watch. November mar- living rooms, with Nicola Sengelmann in the ked the debut of Popstars - Du bist mein studio as its editor. Over the course of the year, Traum! (Popstars - You Are My Dream), whose popular formats like Ruck Zuck, Bravo TV and 15 episodes showed Germany’s biggest music Exklusiv – Die Reportage made their debut. In audition for a girl-band, and the making of a 1994, RTL2 moved from Cologne to the Bavaria pop band from its very beginnings through to Film grounds in Munich. In December, the the first recording contract. In January 2001, broadcasting center also moved from Villa the No Angels became the first hit band spaw- Louvigny in Luxembourg to Munich. By the end ned by Popstars. Upon release, their first single 2 week 11 the RTL Group intranet Daylight in Your Eyes sold over 1 million CDs and stayed at number one in the charts for six weeks. In October 2002, the cornerstone was laid for RTL II’s new building on the Bavaria Film grounds in Grünwald by Munich. In January 2003, RTL II was given a makeover. Its new design went on to win several international awards. In July, the channel airs the first episode of the docu-soap Frauentausch (Wife Swap). In January 2004, RTL II launches its own airtime marketing with El Cartel Media, a wholly owned subsidiary. In 2006, the No Angels feature Das Experiment – 30 Tage Moslem (The Experiment – 30 Days as a Muslim) won in which Miriam Pielhau presented the best of both the European and the German CIVIS TV what RTL II had had to offer during its first 15 Award in the entertainment genre. In years in existence. At the channel’s headquar- December, the 40th edition of The Dome went ters we also held a modest birthday party for on air. In July 2007, RTL II broadcast the spec- our staff. tacular, twelve-part series extravaganza Rom (Rome). The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung Which events would you describe as parti- commended the lavish, USD 100 million-plus cular high points during your time at RTL II? series, writing: “Rom is one of the great TV RTL II is synonymous with great competence in experiments of our day, and we can count our- reality shows, science fiction and feature films. selves lucky that its success is bound to lend RTL II successfully staked its claim to viewers’ new impetus to quality television.” attention by broadcasting programmes like Big Brother, Popstars and Frauentausch. At the On Thursday, 6 March, RTL II celebrated its same time, RTL II has established a reputation 15th anniversary with the RTL II for screening top-class series like Rom or Geburtstagsshow – 15 Jahre einfach Spaß (RTL Heroes. Moreover, we’re also prepared to take II Birthday Show – 15 years of pure fun), which on socially relevant topics by airing program- presented the best, most spectacular and most mes like Das Experiment – 30 Tage Moslem bizarre footage from 15 years of broadcasting (The Experiment – Being a Moslem for 30 history. Backstage spoke to RTL II CEO Jochen Days), which was crowned with both European Starke about 15 years of television at RTL II. and German CIVIS media prizes in the Entertainment category. What does 15 years of RTL II mean to you? They’ve been eventful years, full of ups and downs. But one thing we are most definitely not is boring. For instance, we were the first channel to introduce reali- ty TV, docutainment, Bollywood or Japanese animation to Germany. How did you celebrate RTL II’s fif- teenth anniversary? On air on our birthday special RTL II Geburtstagsshow – 15 Jahre einfach Spaß, marking 15 years of fun on RTL II, Zlatko, participant of Big Brother season 1 3 week 11 the RTL Group intranet RTL II is often equated with trash TV. What’s What does RTL II have lined up for vie- your take on that? wers in the future? RTL II is now 15 years old and has definitely We’ll continue to go our own way in grown up a bit. How things are done can German TV. Our aim is to put together always be debated, as can taste-related issues. an exciting, successful programme Have a look at: Our annual surveys show that viewers certainly schedule. The innovative quiz format don’t associate RTL II with trash any more. But we launched in January, Die Wahrheit www.rtl2.de we also intend to remain the most innovative und nichts als die Wahrheit (The Truth TV channel, and that entails pushing back bar- and Nothing but the Truth) has been very riers. well received by viewers and will be conti- nued this year. Personally, I’m looking forward RTL II established its reputation among vie- to top series like Dexter and Californication. In wers by airing formats like Big Brother. fact RTL II has a fair few surprises up its slee- What is RTL II’s recipe for success? ve, so you might as well sit back and enjoy I think it’s important to keep your nose ahead, them! to be a bit cheekier and bolder than others. That is RTL II’s recipe for suc- cess. With Big Brother, the mother of all RTL II Shareholder Structure reality shows, we really kicked down a big door for other channels. Big Brother Burda GmbH has been a very successful programme 1.10% for years, and has been much copied as Heinrich Bauer Verlag KG RTL GROUP S.A. 31.50% 35.90% a result. Tele München Fernseh GmbH & Co. Medienbeteiligung KG 31.50% The Dome 4 week 11 the RTL Group intranet RTL Radio France at the heart of local elections RTL Radio France was France’s favourite station for coverage of the general and presidential elections, and is now aiming to be the top radio station for local election coverage. France - 6 March 2008 France’s number one radio station has really pul- employment and security. His reports were led out all the stops this time round. First of all, broadcast as part of the news programmes at RTL did a tour of the country for its programme 7:00 and 18:00. Le tour de France RTL des municipales 2008, organising a day of debates and reports high- Finally, on Sunday 9 March and Sunday 16 lighting burning issues in ten cities (Lille, Nice, March, from 19:00 to 23:00, Hervé Béroud, Head Marseille, Nantes, Strasbourg, Paris, Bordeaux, of the RTL Radio editorial team, supported by Toulouse, Lyon and Nancy).