Baker McKenzie has advised Warner Bros. Discovery Germany on the regulatory aspects of the formation of a joint venture with RTLZWEI. The two media companies plan to jointly market their TV and some of their digital inventories via this joint venture. The new company under the brand 'El Cartel Brothers' will be based in Munich. The joint venture is expected to be active from the 2026 marketing year, and has been approved by the competition authorities.
Warner Bros. Discovery Deutschland operates free TV channels, pay TV channels and the streaming service discovery+. Warner Bros. Discovery Deutschland is backed by Warner Bros. Discovery, a New York headquartered leading global media and entertainment company with one of the world's most diverse and comprehensive portfolio of content, brands and franchises in television, film, streaming and games.
RTLZWEI is a Munich-based media company that operates the leading free-to-air channel by the same name. In addition to documentaries, reports and docu-soaps, RTLZWEI entertains with distinctive shows, selected series and feature films. Besides broadcast, RTLZWEI offers exclusive digital content through the website rtl2.de, the gaming platform rtl2spiele.de, via HbbTV and in the streaming service RTL+.
Baker McKenzie's antitrust practice group is a full-service antitrust practice with global reach, covering the entire spectrum of antitrust advice. The German team regularly advises on all aspects of EU and German competition law, including national and international cartel investigations, multinational merger control proceedings and co-operation agreements between competitors as well as market abuse cases.
Legal advisor to Warner Bros. Discovery:
Baker McKenzie
Lead counsel:
Antitrust & Competition: Dr Nicolas Kredel (Partner, Düsseldorf)
Team:
Antitrust & Competition: Markus Mossmann (Associate, Düsseldorf), Dr Lukas Greiner (Associate, Düsseldorf), Nina Lenhard (Counsel, Vienna)