RTL more than doubles first quarter operating earnings

The makers of the X-factor, the Got Talent TV show franchise and Europe’s biggest commercial broadcaster, Luxembourg-based RTL said on Thursday that improved advertising had seen first quarter earnings more than double.

The group, part of Germany’s giant Bertelsmann media conglomerate and owner of Britain’s Channel Five and France’s M6 television stations alongside a host of radio brands, reported earnings before interest, tax and amortisation of 197 million euros (250 million dollars) compared to 87 million euros in the same period of 2009.

Revenue, or turnover, was also up by more than 10 percent to 1.308 billion euros.

“Compared to a weak first quarter in 2009, most of the western European TV advertising markets recorded robust growth during the first quarter of 2010, with Germany, France and Britain showing the best development,” the group said in a statement.

The group said it “expects to improve on last year’s results,” although it warned that advertising conditions “can only be predicted to a very limited degree.”