Officially RTL 5 - along with
RTL 4,
RTL 7 and
RTL 8 - is headquartered in
Hilversum, broadcasting with a
Luxembourg TV license. This allows them to avoid more severe control by the Dutch media authorities as Luxembourg's television watchdog is less strict.
History
RTL 5 started as RTL V via the
Astra 1C satellite on 2 October 1993. The programming mainly consists of shows about cars and programmes for men.[2] In 1994 it changed the
Roman numberV into 5.[3] In 1995
Veronica joined RTL 4 S.A., starting a joint venture called HMG (Holland Media Groep), and with three major channels RTL could disrupt the
television market in the
Netherlands. Therefore, under pressure of the
European Commission the channel was rebranded as RTL 5 Nieuws & Weer (in English: RTL 5 News & Weather) between 1997 and 1998.[4] RTL 5 became a thematic
news channel. In 2001 the European Commission reversed the restrictions for RTL 5 because competitive channels had been launched in the Netherlands. In 2001 a Business and Financial News block called
RTL Z started on RTL 5 during daytime.[5] RTL Z moved from RTL 5 to RTL 7 on 12 August 2005. Since 2005 RTL 5 has become a 24-hours channel.[6]
^
abjoint venture with Amperwelle Studio München Programmanbietergesellschaft,
Axel Springer AG, Burda, Studio Gong, m.b.t. Mediengesellschaft der bayerischen Tageszeitungen für Kabelkommunikation, Medienpool and Radio Bavaria Rundfunkprogrammgesellschaft.
^joint venture with Axel Springer, Heinrich Bauer Verlag, Lühmanndruck Harburger Zeitungsgesellschaft and Morgenpost Verlag.
^
abjoint venture with Amperwelle Studio München Programmanbietergesellschaft,
Axel Springer AG, Burda, Studio Gong, m.b.t. Mediengesellschaft der bayerischen Tageszeitungen für Kabelkommunikation, Medienpool and Radio Bavaria Rundfunkprogrammgesellschaft.
^joint venture with Axel Springer, Heinrich Bauer Verlag, Lühmanndruck Harburger Zeitungsgesellschaft and Morgenpost Verlag.