DLA Piper advises Warner Bros. Discovery on joint venture with RTLZWEI

The two media companies Warner Bros. Discovery Deutschland and RTLZWEI plan to jointly market their TV and some of their digital advertising inventories in the future. To this end, they intend to establish a joint venture that will be active from the 2026 marketing year - subject to obtaining all required regulatory approvals.

The parties will cease their respective Ad Sales activities with the launch of the joint venture, and employees from both the RTLZWEI and Warner Bros. Discovery Germany sales teams will transfer to the joint venture.

DLA Piper advised Warner Bros. Discovery in structuring the transaction, governance of the JVA and commercial agreements related to ad sales representation of the parties by the JV ad sales house.

Warner Bros. Discovery Deutschland is part of Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc., a global media and entertainment leader headquartered in New York, USA. In Germany, the company operates a wide range of free-to-air as well as pay-TV channels and the streaming service discovery+.

RTLZWEI is one of Germany's largest private broadcasters operating an ad-funded free-to-air television channel.

A multi-disciplinary team from DLA Piper's Hamburg and Frankfurt offices worked on the transaction co-led by counsel Dr. Isaschar Nicolaysen, partner and Managing Director, Clients, Dr. Benjamin Parameswaran, and senior associate Jan Schlaak (all corporate/M&A, Hamburg). They were supported by associates Dr. Tom Lasar and Lea Reifers (Corporate). The team also comprised of partners Dr. Burkhard Führmeyer (IPT), counsels Sven Bischoff (Tax) and Eike Bodo Matthes, and senior associate Marisa Machacek (both IPT).