De Mol Offloads Dutch TV, Radio Assets to RTL Group

LUXEMBOURG/HILVERSUM, June 26: RTL Group has reached a deal
to acquire from John de Mol’s Talpa Media the Radio 538 station as well as a
collection of TV assets, including Dutch soccer broadcasting rights.

The deal announced earlier today sees Talpa Media receiving
a 26.3-percent stake in RTL Nederland. As part of the agreement, the leading
Dutch radio station Radio 538 will be integrated into RTL Nederland, alongside
a collection of sports rights and a library of Dutch shows and drama series. In
addition, RTL Nederland will obtain a first look in the Netherlands on all
formats developed by de Mol’s creative unit. RTL Nederland will share in the
worldwide profits of the formats that have been shown on RTL’s Dutch TV
stations. For the time being, the television channel Tien will continue
broadcasting in its current form, according to the RTL Group statement
announcing the Talpa deal.

The deal is subject to approval by the RTL Group Board of
Directors and the Netherlands Competition Authorities (NMa).

Gerhard Zeiler, the CEO of the RTL Group, said: “Under the
leadership of Fons van Westerloo [CEO of RTL Nederland] our profit centre in
the Netherlands has made fantastic progress since 2003. With this transaction,
we not only partner with John de Mol, an outstanding entrepreneur and one of
the most creative minds in our business; RTL Nederland will become a fully
integrated audiovisual company, combining RTL’s complementary family of TV
channels and the country’s leading radio station.”

de Mol added: “This is a great day for Talpa Media. The
connection to the RTL network in the Netherlands opens up the opportunity for
Talpa to develop creative content for several platforms in this country and to
exploit the content for the international market.”