The TV channels of Germany’s two large commercial TV groups RTL and ProSiebenSat.1 will continue to be distributed on digital terrestrial frequencies (DTT) in federal state North-Rhine Westphalia.
At its latest assembly in Düsseldorf, the media commission of local media authority LfM extended the allocation of the DTT broadcast capacity for five years.
The channel packages contain RTL, RTL II, VOX and Super RTL as well as Sat.1, ProSieben, kabel eins and N24. The extension also covers the airtimes of the local window programmes
“The media commission welcomes that – in contrast to earlier plans – both commercial TV groups will continue the DTT transmission after all,” said Werner Schwaderlapp, chairman of the media commission. “The inhabitants of North-Rhine Westphalia will therefore retain inexpensive access to a broad variety of offerings.”
In December 2013, RTL said that it would reconsider its decision to withdraw its channels from Germany’s terrestrial airwaves as the new government plans to secure the frequency spectrum required for DTT in the long run, thus enabling a transition to DVB-T2 and new business models.
