NTV Live (German)

n-tv, a German free-to air television news channel, is owned by RTL Group of Bertelsmann Media. Every hour, n-tv broadcasts weather and news. It broadcasts documentaries and magazine shows.

n-tv was started as a business development initiative at Time Warner International, which, under the guidance of Steve Ross, was looking for international ways to expand its business. Time Warner was a major shareholder of Turner Broadcasting System at the time, which is now WarnerMedia. They began to look for international opportunities in the news channel industry. Under the guidance of Tom McGrath (then-president of Time-Warner International Broadcasting), the company created a strategy to target Austria, Germany and the German-speaking regions of Switzerland in 1991.

McGrath was fondly involved in the development of a 24-hour news channel in German. McGrath obtained the Kopernikus satellite’s last transponder and several terrestrial TV licenses to transmit n-tv. McGrath recruited several German companies, including Apax Partners and Otto Group, to be his partners. He also hired Karl Kuhlo as the CEO, a veteran German broadcaster.