RTL Television

RTL Television (formerly RTL plus), or simply RTL, is a German commercial television station distributed via cable and satellite, as well as via digital terrestrial (DVB-T) in more highly populated areas. It is owned by the RTL Group and is, in terms of market share, Germany's largest private free-to-air broadcaster.

The channel started broadcasting on 2 January 1984 at 17:27 from VHF channel E7 (system B, colour PAL) in Luxembourg. It only had a theoretical audience of approximately 200,000 until 1988, when it moved its headquarters to Cologne, Germany; prior to this it was considered a Luxembourg-based station.

RTL, which began as a spin-off of the German version of Radio Luxembourg, started with a low budget and many of the early hosts simply presented versions of their radio formats adapted for television. One early success was the quiz show "Ein Tag wie kein anderer" (A Day Like No Other), in which candidates were competing for a holiday.

RTL plus was famous in its early years for showing low-budget films and American programmes. It was the number 2 commercial broadcaster.

All that changed when RTL moved to Cologne and, in return, received the right to broadcast on terrestrial frequencies. That same year, RTL acquired the first-run rights to the prestigious Fußball-Bundesliga. Deals with Cannon, which at the time was successful with films like Highlander and, one year later, with Universal Studios, finally provided more high profile films for the channel.

The current slogan is "Mein RTL" which means My RTL in English.

It is now the primary channel of the RTL Group's German television stations, which also include RTL II, Super RTL, VOX, n-tv and RTL Nitro.