RTL Group has failed to gain a foothold in the lucrative Russian TV market despite its co-ownership of two key interests.
Quoting RTL Group’s VP corporate communications Oliver Fahlbusch, Kommersant reports that the media group sold its 50% stake in the Luxembourg-registered company Content Union to its co-owner Continental Media, one of the assets of the operator of the Russian DTH platform Raduga TV, in July 2010.
Content Union is a producer and distributor of four Russian thematic channels and RTL Group is understood to have made €400,000 from the sale.
RTL Group entered the Russian market in 2005 by buying a 30% stake in Ren TV from its founders for €67 million.
However, last April it signed an option with Ren TV’s majority (70%) owners to sell its 30% interest in the next three to five years.
Since then, it has stopped reporting Ren TV in its results.
