M6 and its plan to conquer access primetime

Newsletter M6 and its plan to conquer access primetime Interview with Bibiane Godfroid Belgium Bel RTL: Simply can't stop innovating Germany German Television Awards 2007: 26 nominations for RTL Group companies France The Rugby World Cup on RTL Hungary RTL Klub diversifies further People IP Deutschland: Dirk Bruns new Head of Marketing for N-TV

Bibiane Godfroid, DIrectrice Générale des programmes de M6 M6 and its plan to conquer access primetime Backstage interviewed Programming Director of M6 Bibiane Godfroid on the channels new programming strategy. France - 6 September 2007 When the M6 management team presented the new schedule for the 2007-2008 season last week, Programming Director Bibiane Godfroid said that this season, every effort will be made to boost M6's performance during access primetime. With four new shows during access primetime, the top priority on the M6 programming agenda became very evident. Here's some background to the story: during the first half of 2007, M6 was the only major channel in France that managed to increase its audience figures during primetime, despite growing competition from digital terrestrial television (DTT) channels. However, this strong performance during primetime did not translate into an increased audience share for the day as a whole in the main commercial target group of housewives aged under 50. Access primetime did not perform as expected and it did not take M6 long to come up with a plan and act. Today, access primetime is a source of major potential for increasing M6's audience figures. Backstage talked with Bibiane Godfroid about M6's new programming strategy. We can see from your new schedule that there are no fewer than four new programmes during access primetime. Is M6 undergoing a revolution? Not really a revolution but certainly evolution! M6 continues to progress year on year. First of all, the channel managed to establish itself on the French audiovisual scene; it brought with it its own tone and a degree of 'impertinence' and above all innovation to win over a young, female public. To build up its audience and become a landmark channel for viewers aged under 50, we have continued to work hard while keeping the M6 spirit alive. Firstly, we have invested a great deal in evening programming (during primetime and the second part of the evening) by putting together an ambitious schedule of programmes and introducing new formats and new brands such as the lifestyle magazine D&CO and the information programme 66 minutes. And our efforts have paid off since between January and September 2007, we gained almost 100,000 additional viewers and M6 is the only major channel to have made gains during this slot! In the new season, the major work will be on access primetime. We will be focussing on this slot with the launch of new daily programmes such as the game show Etes-vous plus fort qu'un élève de 10 ans adapted from the successful Are you smarter than a fith grader format in the US. Still thinking about the schedule, it's clear that your efforts have focussed on a shakeup of the access primetime slot, but what about primetime itself? Can we expect major changes here too? Primetime is still a key component of M6's schedule. The programmes which helped carve out the channel's success are back this season: Capital, Zone Interdite, 66 minutes and Enquête exclusive in terms of news, then drama series here, M6 is increasingly investing in its own unique style of French drama series such as Les Bleus and La Lance de la destiné. Finally, M6 will also be offering viewers the very best in foreign drama series with 15 brand new series such as Jéricho, Vanished, The Lost Room as well as the news seasons of Prison Break, NCIS and Bones. We will also continue to take risks by offering new magazine formats on subjects in which viewers are interested with programmes such as Stop au découvert and Maison à vendre. 2

Following this programming revamp, can you tell us how successful you have been in terms of audience share? Have your audience figures confirmed your strategy has been the right one? We are already very pleased with the success of our access primetime game show Etes-vous plus fort qu'un élève de 10 ans which attracted 2.5 million viewers and an audience share of 10.2 per cent among the 4-and-over age group when it was first broadcast at 20.10. Since then, M6's audience has grown by 800,000 as compared with the average for this slot over the past three months, which is an increase of 47 per cent. We consider these results very promising. We are creating a real family slot here with a game that is educational as well as entertaining at a time of day when all the family can be together. What key factors made you decide against introducing a 30-minute news bulletin at 20.00? The M6 schedule may one day include a news bulletin but we want to take our time to make sure it fits in with the channel's ethos. We are still working on this project but at the moment we believe our time is better spent developing our entertainment offerings and counter-programming. What role does sport in general and football in particular play on a channel like M6? In terms of image and audience, televised sport is a key factor in M6's development: faced with heightened competition from other media and other television channels, M6 needs events. Even if sport is never profitable we have forked out 50 million to broadcast Euro 2008 it will be a worthwhile expense. It is a great opportunity for M6 after the World Cup, the channel owed it to itself to be in on the action for this major event and to give it the M6 treatment. And now we might be broadcasting a French national team match for the first time! Roland Magdane s new quiz show started with high ratings. Next year, M6 will broadcast 15 matches of the Euro 2008. 3

Bérénice and Mike Simply can't stop innovating Bel RTL marks its 17th season with a new schedule full of surprises and innovative features for its listeners Belgium - 5 September 2007 The tone was clear right from the start: Since the leading ratio station serving Brussels and Wallonia was set up 16 years ago (already!), it has never stopped championing innovation in radio. Every season, in an attempt to find things that would enthuse, please and surprise its listeners, the station has come up with something new, said Bel RTL CEO Jean-Jacques Deleeuw. This year once again, humour and cheekiness will be the watchwords of programmes hosted by presenters who are very popular with listeners. Moreover, Bel RTL has decided to bolster its interactivity with listeners via the well-known programme Les Auditeurs ont la Parole (Listeners Have Their Say) and also in the early morning and late evening programmes 7/8 and Bel Soir. Naturally, the magazines Votre question nous intéresse, Vivre ensemble and L Essentiel will continue to solicit the views of listeners, who can send text messages to 3323 to respond to news items and to 4343 when they have a hot piece of news to share. La Dépanneuse, with its incorrigible presenters Mike and Bérénice, will delight listeners from Mondays to Thursdays between 13.10 and 16.00, giving the programme the slight lift it needed. In it, Mike et Béré will come to listeners' aid, e.g. if they don't dare to ask their boss for a day off work, or if they want a rebate on their next car, or are missing just a single item to complete a collection. This provides a foretaste of a season that already looks very promising. 4

Die Flucht (Teamworx) received four nominations. German Television Awards 2007: 26 nominations for RTL Group companies The 2007 German Television Awards will be handed out at the end of September. On Tuesday, the nominations in 21 categories were announced: RTL Television was nominated nine times, Vox twice. The UFA subsidiary Teamworx received no fewer than 14 nominations. Germany - 5 September 2007 Since 1999, the German Television Awards have honoured outstanding achievements in television. The nominations are now in for the 2007 Awards; the panel of 11 judges headed by journalist and author Klaudia Wick selected this year's nominations for the 21 award categories from some 1,100 programmes. RTL Television received nine nominations, including for Let's Dance with Hape Kerkeling and Nazan Eckes in the Best Entertainment Programme category, RTL Aktuell in the Best News Programme category and Feuertod by Antonia Rados in the Best Reporting category. RTL also has the Best TV Advice Show Personality category in the bag, with nominations for Rach, der Restauranttester, Die Super- Nanny and Raus aus den Schulden. Vox received two nominations in the Best Culinary Show category (naturally!) for the hugely popular Das perfekte Dinner and Schmeckt nicht, gibt's nicht. Nico Hofmann, CEO and Producer for Teamworx, says: We are proud to have received so many nominations. Once again Teamworx is top of the tree among German production companies when it comes to nominations for the German Television Awards. I am particularly pleased by how well our more radical programmes such as Helen, Fred und Ted have done and that our commitment to new talent seems to be paying off with films such as Rose by Alain Gsponer. Our portfolio now includes both major event programmes such as Die Flucht and new talent. I see this diversity proving successful for Teamworx in the future. The German Television Awards created jointly by RTL, ARD, ZDF and Sat 1 ceremony will be held on 29 September 2007 in Cologne and will be broadcast on RTL from 20.15. This year's awards ceremony is being organised by RTL. Seven films by the UFA subsidiary Teamworx received 14 nominations between them. The two-part film Die Flucht produced by Teamworx for ARD and telling the story of the flight of the German populace from East Prussia following the end of the Second World War was the only work to receive four nominations in the categories Best TV Film, Best Actor in a Supporting Role, Best Costumes and Best Soundtrack. Antonia Rados 5

Below is a rundown of all the nominations received by RTL Television, Vox and UFA/ Teamworx: Best TV Film/Multi-Part Film: Die Flucht (ARD/Degeto/BR/WDR/SWR/HR/ARTE/Teamworx Television & Film GmbH/EOS Entertainment GmbH) Rose (ARD/BR/SWR/ARTE/Teamworx Television & Film GmbH) Best Sitcom: Kinder, Kinder (RTL/BRAINPOOL TV GmbH) Mitten im Leben (RTL/Radical Comedy! GmbH) Best Entertainment Programme/ Best Presenter: Let's Dance with Hape Kerkeling and Nazan Eckes (RTL/Granada Produktion für Film und Fernsehen GmbH) Best Reporting: Feuertod (RTL) Best News Programme: RTL aktuell (RTL) Open category (format): Best Culinary Show Das perfekte Dinner (VOX/Granada Produktion für Film und Fernsehen GmbH) Schmeckt nicht, gibt's nicht (VOX/MME Me, Myself & Eye Entertainment AG) Best Director: Alain Gsponer for Rose (ARD/BR/SWR/ARTE/Teamworx Television & Film GmbH) Best Script: Gabriela Sperl and Kathrin Richter for Helen, Fred und Ted (ARD/Degeto/BR/NDR/Teamworx Television & Film GmbH) Best Actor: Matthias Koeberlin for Tornado - Der Zorn des Himmels (ProSieben/Teamworx Television & Film GmbH) Friedrich von Thun for Der falsche Tod (ZDF/Teamworx Television & Film GmbH) Best Actress: Nadja Uhl for Nicht alle waren Mörder (ARD/Degeto SWR/BR/RBB/Teamworx Television & Film GmbH/EOS Entertainment GmbH) Best Actor in a Supporting Role: Volker Bruch for Nichts ist vergessen (ARD/WDR/Cinecentrum Deutsche Gesellschaft für Film- und Fernsehproduktion mbh) and Rose (ARD/BR/SWR/ARTE/Teamworx Television & Film GmbH) Gabriela Maria Schmeide for Die Flucht (ARD/Degeto/BR/WDR/SWR/HR/ARTE/Teamworx Television & Film GmbH/EOS Entertainment GmbH) Best Editing: Clara Fabry für Helen, Fred und Ted (ARD/Degeto/BR/NDR/Teamworx Television & Film GmbH) Dagmar Lichius für Post Mortem (RTL/Sony Pictures Film und Fernseh Produktions mbh) Best Soundtrack: Enjott Schneider for Die Flucht (ARD/Degeto/BR/WDR/SWR/HR/ARTE/Teamworx Television & Film GmbH/EOS Entertainment GmbH) and Nicht alle waren Mörder (ARD/Degeto/SWR/BR/EOS Entertainment GmbH/World Sales Beta Film/RBB/Teamworx Television & Film GmbH) Ralf Wienrich for Bella Block: Blackout (ZDF/UFA Fernsehproduktion GmbH) and Das Geheimnis im Moor (ZDF/Telefilm Saar GmbH) Best Costumes: Knut Loewe and Wiebke Kratz for Die Flucht (ARD/Degeto/BR/WDR/SWR/HR/ARTE/Teamworx /EOS Entertainment GmbH) and R.I.S.-Die Sprache der Toten (Sat.1/Producers at Work GmbH) Albrecht Konrad and Monica Jacobs for Der geheimnisvolle Schatz von Troja (Sat.1/Teamworx) Open category (personality): Best TV Advice Show Personality: Christian Rach for Rach, der Restauranttester (RTL/Eyeworks Deutschland GmbH) Katharina Saalfrank for Die Super Nanny (RTL/Tresor TV Produktions GmbH) Peter Zwegat for Raus aus den Schulden (RTL/probono Fernsehproduktion GmbH) 6

Dr. House TV market in August: Vox attained new ratings record August marked 15 straight years at the top for RTL Television, which has now been the number one channel for 14- to 49-year-old viewers for 180 months in succession. Meanwhile, sister channel Vox beat its previous audience record. Germany - 3 September 2007 With a market share of 15.3 per cent in August, RTL Television was once again well ahead of its main rivals ProSieben (11.5 per cent) and Sat.1 (10.6 per cent). Vox came in fourth place, with an audience share of 8.1 per cent, making August 2007 the channel's successful TV month ever. The remaining places were occupied by ARD (7.6 per cent), RTL II (6.7 per cent) and ZDF (6.1 per cent). Since August 2006, RTL's German family of channels has clearly made headway among young viewers. RTL Television, Vox, RTL II, Super RTL and N-TV achieved a combined market share of 33.6 per cent, 1.3 percentage points up on the same month the previous year. By comparison, the ProSiebenSat1 family lost 1.8 percentage points, managing a market share of 28.7 per cent among 14- to 49- year-olds (down from 30.5 per cent in August 2006). Break, is gaining an ever larger following, with up to 19.3 per cent of 14- to 49-year-olds tuning in to watch the exciting drama series. During access prime time, RTL achieved several records in August, with both its daily soaps Unter Uns and Alles was zählt and also the star magazine Exclusiv achieving their best average monthly market share in 2007. Punkt 12 was not only once again the most successful midday news broadcast on German TV, but also celebrated its 15th birthday, with Katja Burkard simultaneously celebrating 10 years as the show's presenter. With market shares of 20.3 per cent among young viewers, and 20.4 per cent overall, RTL Aktuell also scored its highest average ratings of this year. On RTL Television Hugh Laurie was a big draw as Dr House, attracting up to 29.2 per cent of young viewers. Meanwhile, another US series, Prison Prison Break 7

Punkt 12: Katja Burkard, Nazan Eckes RTL restructures its afternoon schedule RTL Television's new daytime schedule in Germany will be launched on 15 October 2007 and will set out to provide more news, service and life counselling. Germany - 31 August 2007 In RTL's new afternoon schedule, the midday magazine Punkt 12 will offer a full two hours of news on weekdays. It will be more service-oriented and offer more background information. Previously the programme had been just one hour long. In this way we are fulfilling the desire frequently voiced by our viewers for more extensive midday information programmes, said RTL Editor-in- Chief Peter Kloeppel. For our viewers, Punkt 12 with Katja Burkard has become a lunchtime fixture and thus a particularly strong brand, he added, before concluding: We'll be responding to this in the autumn and will thus steadily be expanding our midday focus on information. This will mark the steady continuation of RTL's hit coaching formats during the daytime, claimed Tom Sänger, RTL's head of entertainment. A powerful new season of the successful detective show Staatsanwalt Posch will follow in the show's usual 16.00 slot. RTL Head of Entertainment Tom Sänger continued: This constitutes the first phase in a fairly extensive renewal of RTL's daytime programmes. As with the restructuring of our early evening programmes, the aim we're pursuing is to establish programmes that will prove successful in the long run and a new afternoon schedule. We intend to take whatever time we need to achieve this. The Oliver Geissen Show will start at 14.00, featuring a new concept and a new-look studio. Some of the topics it covers will be linked to the RTL magazines in the new schedule. That show will then be followed at 15.00 by the new coaching format Familienhilfe mit Herz, in which psychologist Susan Akel goes to families to help them solve problems to do with raising kids, school and partnerships. Familienhilfe mit Herz: Susan Akel 8

Patrick Sébastien The Rugby World Cup on RTL in France Leading French radio station RTL is gearing up for some major rugby action at the sport's top event of the year. France - 3 September 2007 From 7 September to 20 October, RTL will become the French team's biggest supporter, cheering on Les Bleus and keeping tabs on them throughout the Rugby World Cup. RTL's daily programme On refait le Monde Ovale broadcast between 20.00 and 20.30 (and from 19.30 to 20.00 on Saturdays), will keep its listeners up to date with daily news on the members of the French XV. In fact, during the tournament the radio station will be providing very extensive coverage, including comment by renowned rugby pundits, daily features, full coverage of matches featuring the French team, and various interviews and discussions. On 7 September, the first day of the tournament, RTL will be entitled A fond derrière les bleus! (Backing the Blues to the hilt). This historic day will be marked by special guest appearances, reports and programmes, culminating at 21.00 in full live coverage of the game featuring the French team led by Bernard Laporte. Listeners whose comments are featured on the programme will receive a limited-edition polo shirt. The rugby experts of RTL: Jean-Michel Rascol, Franck Mesnel, Patrick Sébastien, Pierre Salviac 9

Jaime Cantizano RTL Klub further is diversifying its portfolio. The television channel and its subsidiary Klub Publishing have acquired 100 per cent of the shares in Hungary s largest internet DVD and book retailer, Netpiac. Netpiac was founded in 1999 and has one of the longest histories in domestic online retail. It was the first online film store in Hungary and is one of the most well-known e-commerce brand names, operating via the website netpiac.hu. The company is not just a leading player in the online DVD retail sector, but is also competing RTL Klub diversifies further The Hungarian television channel RTL Klub has acquired the online store Netpiac. Hungary - 31 August 2007 in the dynamically expanding online book and Blu-ray disk retail sector. The price of the transaction has not been disclosed. Dirk Gerkens, Chief Executive Officer of RTL Klub, said: I'm delighted with this acquisition, which is fully in line with our strategy of diversifying further. This purchase has made us one of the top 5 DVD publishers and distributors in Hungary and expanded our distribution portfolio by adding an online store". Roeland Fernhout In this intriguing new format, a dozen young, single, Dutch women will date four tough single males from Alaska, America's least densely populated state, against the backdrop of a stunning wilderness landscape. The men, all spirited rough-diamond types, are single not by choice, but simply owing to a shortage of available women among the maledominated Alaskan population. Roeland Fernhout, the show's presenter and transatlantic matchmaker, will accompany Love in the wilderness on RTL 5 The Dutch television channel RTL 5 has launched the new exciting weekly reality programme From Alaska With Love this week. Netherlands - 30 August 2007 the 12 young women vying for the attentions of their Alaskan hunks. Each Alaskan man will be paired up with three girls, and after a series of dates, going out together and completing joint assignments, the four will select just one Dutch sweetheart to build a life with them in Alaska. The 12 women are all prepared to leave the Netherlands if it means finding love. 10

Successful return of M6's information magazines M6's two main information magazines, Capital and Enquête exclusive, got off to a great start when they returned to the small screen this season. France - 4 September 2007 RTL programme highlights even on the move A new service launched by RTL and RTL Mobile for mobile phone users enables viewers to get the latest news about RTL's programme schedule any time and anywhere they want. Germany - 30 August 2007 RTL and Gala commemorate Lady Di together On 31 August 1997 the Princess of Wales died tragically in a car accident in Paris. RTL and the Gruner + Jahr magazine Gala are now teaming up to honour her memory together. Germany - 31 August 2007 RTL Games now to be marketed in the USA, Mexico and Canada In future, game fans on the other side of the Atlantic will also be able to appreciate the quality of new titles issued by RTL Games. Moreover, in future the computer and video games will also all be available Europe-wide. Germany - 3 September 2007 11

Dirk Bruns People Dirk Bruns appointed as Head of Marketing for N-TV at IP Deutschland Germany - 6 September 2007 From September, Dirk Bruns, 35, is responsible for Business-to-Business-Marketing for the news channel N-TV at IP Deutschland. In his new functions as Head of Marketing for N-TV at IP Deutschland, Dirk Bruns will be responsible for the channel's product management as well as sales controlling. He will work with Dorothée Hörrmann, Sales Director for N-TV, and will report directly to Florian Ruckert, Head of Marketing of IP Deutschland. Bruns graduated in business management and has worked in various functions at IP Deutschland since 2001. 12

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