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

DLA Piper has advised Warner Bros. Discovery Deutschland on a joint venture with RTLZWEI, one of Germany’s largest private television broadcasters.

The two media companies, Warner Bros. Discovery Deutschland and RTLZWEI, plan to jointly market their TV and parts of their digital inventories in Germany going forward. They intend to establish a joint venture for this purpose, which will become active from the 2026 marketing year – subject to obtaining all necessary regulatory approvals.

With the establishment of the joint venture, the parties will cease their respective advertising sales activities, and employees from the sales departments of RTLZWEI and Warner Bros. Discovery Germany will transfer to the joint venture.

A multidisciplinary team from DLA Piper’s Hamburg and Frankfurt offices advised Warner Bros. Discovery on the structuring of the transaction, the governance of the joint venture agreement, and the commercial arrangements relating to the parties’ representation by the joint venture’s advertising sales agency.

The team was jointly led by Counsel Isaschar Nicolaysen, Partner and Managing Director Clients Benjamin Parameswaran, and Senior Associate Jan Schlaak (ALL PICTURED, LEFT TO RIGHT). They were supported by Associates Tom Lasar and Lea Reifers (all Corporate/M&A). The team also included Partners Burkhard Führmeyer (IPT), Counsel Sven Bischoff (Tax) and Eike Bodo Matthes, as well as Senior Associate Marisa Machacek (both IPT).