Further job cuts at RTL and Sky: 500 jobs will be lost

KNA | RTL Deutschland wants to cut around 500 jobs in the ongoing merger with pay-TV broadcaster Sky by the end of 2027. According to RTL, the job cuts should be carried out in a socially responsible manner and redundancies should be avoided.

The Bild newspaper first reported. The majority of the jobs will be eliminated this year and the cuts should be spread across both companies, according to the media group belonging to the Bertelsmann Group. RTL plans to announce details about how many and which positions are affected at RTL in Cologne and at the Sky headquarters in Unterföhring in the next few weeks.

The job cuts were expected after RTL took over Sky. According to the company, the merger will result in synergy effects amounting to 250 million euros over the next three years. RTL Deutschland had already cut around 600 jobs in the spring as part of an independent restructuring program “Shift 2026”.

The German Association of Journalists (DJV) warned of “massive effects on the journalistic offering” at RTL as a result of further job cuts. “The merger of RTL and Sky will now have a price tag,” said DJV federal chairman Mika Beuster. For the station bosses, these are synergy effects, but for the employees it means losing their jobs, said Beuster.