MUMBAI: European entertainment network RTL Group has earned a profit of ?795 million for the year ended December 2011, a rise of 8.9 per cent over the earlier year.

Revenue was up 4.2 per cent to ?5.7 billion, mainly based on higher revenue from FremantleMedia and RTL Nederland. Following an exceptional 2010, RTL Group?s profitability remained very high: reported EBITA was ?1.1 billion, while return on sales decreased slightly to 19.7 per cent. Net profit attributable to RTL Group shareholders is up 13.9 per cent to ?696 million Net cash from operating activities was ?1 billion, resulting in an operating cash conversion of 104 per cent and a net cash position of ?1,238 million at the end of 2011 .

RTL Group CEO Gerhard Zeiler said, "2011 was marked by three main developments.First, all of our families of channels maintained or increased their strong audience shares. This was the foundation to outperform the increasingly challenging TV advertising markets in almost every country we operate in. Secondly, RTL Group succeeded in maintaining its profitability at the very high level achieved in 2010: EBITA of over ?1.1 billion, EBITA margin of almost 20 per cent, and net profit of ?696 million ? all these key indicators were either stable or even up year-on-year."

Thirdly, RTL Group developed its international portfolio during 2011, to safeguard its leading market positions and to develop new businesses.

"We regained full control of our highly profitable Dutch TV
operations, and bought out minority shareholders in Hungary and Croatia to build strong families of channels. Targeted online acquisitions in Germany and the Netherlands significantly strengthened our new media activities in these countries. Finally, we signed an agreement to exit the declining Greek broadcasting market," Zeiler said.

RTL sees different developments in the various countries it operates in.

"Looking at January and February 2012 we can say that the negative development many had feared did not happen. Given the high volatility of the various TV advertising markets throughout Europe, and the very short-term bookings cycle, it is not possible to give full-year guidance at the moment. However, RTL Group has repeatedly demonstrated that it can operate successfully in very difficult economic environments," Zeiler said.

The European TV ad markets reflect a mixed picture in 2011: rather flat developments in Western Europe, with the exception of Belgium and the Netherlands, which were up.The markets in Southern and Eastern Europe reported lower advertising revenue compared to 2010. the year also saw the exit of Alpha Media Group, treated as discontinued
operations; and unwind of Talpa transaction completed.

With RTL Television reporting significantly higher audience ratings, Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland continued to increase its clear audience leadership over its main competitor, P7S1 Group, to 6.1 percentage points. With an EBITA of ?529 million, the profit centre achieved its second-best result ever ? by a large margin ? despite a challenging German TV advertising market and higher investments in programming.

In France, M6 was the only major French channel to increase its audience share year-on-year, while digital channel W9 reported significant growth, both in terms of advertising revenue and audience ratings. EBITA of Groupe M6 was up 1.6 per cent to ?249 million.

RTL Nederland scored its best ratings since 1997 and succeeded in capitalising them into double-digit growth of TV advertising revenue. EBITA increased 21.8 per cent to ?134 million for both TV and radio operations.

RTL Group?s production arm FremantleMedia reported revenue growth of 12.3 per cent, driven by higher revenue in North America and the first-time full consolidation of recent acquisitions Radical Media and Ludia. FremantleMedia?s EBITA was up 2.1 per cent to ?143 million, despite general pressure on margins and volumes from broadcasters RTL Radio in France reported EBITA growth of 25.0 per cent, at ?30 million.

RTL Group strengthens its portfolio by taking full control of RTL Nederland: following the exercise of a put option, RTL Group exchanged its 73.7 per cent interest in Radio 538 for Talpa Media Holding?s 26.3 per cent minority shareholding in RTL Nederland.

RTL Group acquired a portfolio of seven Hungarian cable channels plus a further 31 per cent shareholding in the country?s number one channel, RTL Klub. This acquisition, plus a separate smaller deal, brings RTL Group?s shareholding in RTL Klub to 100 per cent, and provides the ideal platform on which to build a complementary family of channels, and to safeguard market leadership in Hungary.

It also took full control of the Croatian broadcasting operation: RTL Group acquired the respective 13 per cent shareholdings of its local business partners in RTL Hrvatska (RTL Televizija and RTL 2, launched in January 2011)

Decision to exit the Greek broadcasting market: In the light of the country?s serious and on-going economic and financial crisis, RTL Group sold its 70 per cent majority shareholding in Alpha Media Group to the Greek entrepreneur Dimitris Contominas.

In June 2011, RTL Group swapped its 30 per cent shareholding in Ren TV for a 7.5 per cent shareholding in the Russian media company National Media Group (NMG), as part of an agreement with the current shareholders of NMG. Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland will launch new free-TV channel, RTL Nitro, on 1 April 2012.

RTL Group?s new media activities continue to grow: In 2011, RTL Group?s online platforms and on-demand offers across Europe collectively generated 1.9 billion video views of professionally produced content ? up 35 per cent year-on-year. Total online ad revenue was up 23 per cent year-on-year, driven by video advertising. RTL Group companies have launched 125 mobile applications, registering 38 million downloads to date.

Mobile live TV services are now available in Germany, France, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg. Pay-TV channels in Germany, France and the Netherlands are operating at a profit.

MUMBAI: Pukeko Pictures, known for the show ?The WotWots? as well as being the affiliate television company of Richard Taylor?s Weta Workshop, has announced a first look deal with television format creator, distributor FremantleMedia Enterprises (FME) to produce scripted content along with the appointment of Adam Fratto as executive VP, Development.

Based at FremantleMedia?s L.A. office, Fratto will report to Pukeko Pictures? co-owner Martin Baynton and will work alongside FME senior VP of global content Jeff Tahler and FremantleMedia US senior VP of scripted programming Tony Optican on the development of new scripted television series. These will benefit from the expertise from within the New Zealand entertainment sector, in particular the world-renowned talents of the Wellington film and television production industry and the Weta Workshop facilities.

The deal further expands FME?s global initiative, which has recently included ?The Wedding Band? from Tollin Productions for TBS in the US, and ?Hit And Miss? from Abbott Vision for Sky Atlantic in the UK.

Pukeko Pictures co-founder Richard Taylor said, "We are proud and delighted to have formed this partnership with FremantleMedia Enterprises, a global entertainment leader. Together with Adam EVP, Development, we look forward to creating high-quality and universally appealing productions. Adam brings to the partnership years of industry experience with Atticus Entertainment and Piller/Segan and we are thrilled to announce his appointment".

Pukeko Pictures is affiliated with the Oscar and Bafta award-winning Weta Workshop through founding partners Richard Taylor and Tania Rodger, known internationally for their work on films including the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, King Kong, Avatar, The Adventures of Tintin and The Hobbit and television shows Hercules and Xena and their own IP developed brands Jane and the Dragon and The WotWots ? Season 1 of the series.

FremantleMedia Enterprises Global CEO David Ellender said, "The teams at Pukeko and Weta Workshop are respected the world over for their work at the cutting edge of the film and television industry. Adam?s appointment offers up tremendous opportunities, allowing for incredibly close collaboration between our two organisations on the development, financing and production of innovative new drama series that will appeal to audiences around the globe."

MUMBAI: Television format creator and distributor FremantleMedia has announced the acquisition of the format and licensing rights to ?Recipe to Riches?.

The show, created by Temple Street Productions, is a new reality competition series that sees home cooks battle for a
cash prize and the chance to have their original recipe chosen and sold nationwide in a supermarket chain.

The show kicks off with a cross-country search where a panel of food experts choose finalists in a new food category each week. These categories can include anything from sweet puddings and pies, to cakes, appetizers, main courses, or sweet and savoury snacks. The top three finalists in each category fight for their recipes to be chosen as the category winner and awarded the weekly cash prize. The winning products are then immediately made available in grocery stores nationwide, allowing viewers to taste the products before they cast their vote to decide the ultimate Recipe to Riches champion.

FremantleMedia will roll the format out to international audiences through its worldwide network of production companies, and FME will represent the worldwide licensing rights to the brand (outside of Canada), working closely with the creative production teams to integrate retailers and sponsors into the show, create and launch products with retail partners and develop brand extensions through social media and live events to drive audience participation.

FremantleMedia director, global entertainment development Rob Clark said, "Recipe to Riches is a ground-breaking programme. For the viewer, it?s the first truly interactive food show; in Idols, you can buy and enjoy the music, in Recipe to Riches, the viewer can eat the winning recipe. What could be more satisfying? Sight, sound, smell and taste, all in one TV show. We?re delighted to have acquired Recipe to Riches and we are very much looking forward to bringing local versions of the show to audiences around the world."

FremantleMedia Enterprises? Global CEO David Ellender said, "We are incredibly excited about Recipe to Riches, which is the perfect format to plug in to FME?s global expertise and infrastructure, with huge commercial potential, particularly across sponsorship, consumer products, interactive and live events."

MUMBAI: FremantleMedia Australia (FMA) has appointed Jo Porter to the new role of director of drama. Porter will be responsible for the strategy and production of all drama content for FMA, and will report into FremantleMedia CEO Asia Pacific Ian Hogg.

Hogg said, "FMA has a long and successful heritage of creating leading drama productions which have been successful in Australia and around the world. Over the last three decades our company‘s pedigree in producing long running, best in practice drama is extraordinary. Reg Grundy pioneered programmes such as ‘Prisoner‘, ‘Sons and Daughters‘ and ‘Young Doctors‘, all of which were ahead of their time, along with ‘Neighbours‘ which is about to begin its 27th year on air.

"This is an outstanding testament to our existing capabilities in drama and we have very clear ambitions for the future. I can think of nobody better than Jo to build on our success and lead an expansion in drama production for FMA, as we look to export our stories and culture to the world stage."

FremantleMedia COO Gary Carter added, "Drama production continues to be a crucial component of our business internationally and the appointment of Jo Porter in Australia will have a global impact. Jo will collaborate with our Worldwide Drama team to develop Australian stories and productions for the international market. We are incredibly excited to have Jo on board."

Porter has spent much of her career with the Seven Network in Australia. She joined Seven in 1997 to establish and produce All Saints. The series quickly became one of the most popular dramas on Australian television, winning AFI Awards in 1999 and 2000 and a Logie Award in 2001.

MUMBAI: European entertainment network RTL Group has announced that revenue for the third quarter rose by 6.6 per cent to ?1.23 billion from ?1.16 billion in the same period last year.

EBITA was up by 8.3 per cent to ?144 million from ?133 million.

The result was due to higher TV ad sales in Germany, France and the Netherlands and growing revenue at FremantleMedia. There were higher profit contributions from Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland, FremantleMedia and RTL Nederland.

During the period January to September 2011 reported revenue grew by 4.4 per cent to ?3,988 million, while reported EBITA increased by 4.6 per cent to ?701 million. The EBITA increase was driven by higher profit contributions from Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland, Groupe M6‘s TV channels and RTL Nederland.

The reported EBITA margin for the first nine months of the year was 17.6 per cent, compared to 17.5 per cent for the same period last year.

The net cash position as of 30 September 2011 amounted to ?970 million compared to ?1,059 million on 30 September 2010 and ?973 million on 30 June 2011.