RTL in 'Premiere Star'

[BGonaSTICK]

German commercial broadcaster RTL will make its digital pay-TV channels RTL Crime and RTL Living, along with Passion (jointly operated with TV production company UFA), available on Premiere’s pay-TV platform from autumn.

According to the Cologne-based broadcaster, a long-term agreement has been signed with Premiere’s third party marketing and distribution platform Premiere Star for carriage of the channels.

RTL Living will commence in September on Premiere Star via Astra (19.2° East). From October, RTL Crime will form part of the package Premiere Thema, which will be marketed via cable and satellite by Premiere Star, while Passion will join Premiere Thema in January 2008.

RTL Crime, RTL Living and Passion were launched on December 1 2006. The channels, which focus on the genres of crime and action, advice and lifestyle, soap operas and telenovelas respectively, are financed through a mixed model of subscription fees, advertising and sponsoring.

The channels are already available via Astra as part of the pay-TV package “arenaFAMILY”, operated by cable company Unitymedia, but until now they have not formed part of Premiere’s offer. The channels are also carried on Unitymedia’s pay-TV platform via cable in the regional states of North-Rhine Westphalia and Hessen and form part of the IPTV packages of Deutsche Telekom and the Telecom Italia subsidiary HanseNet. With the extended distribution via Premiere, RTL Crime and Passion will become available nationwide on cable networks.

Source: World Media