The channel started as
Talpa, later rebranded as
Tien, which was launched by media tycoon
John de Mol in August 2005. In 2007 John de Mol's Talpa Media assets were amalgamated with RTL Nederland. In exchange, John de Mol obtained a 26.3% share in RTL Nederland. RTL Nederland revealed that
Tien would be rebranded as
RTL 8. Fons van Westerloo, director of RTL Nederland explained that the name of the new RTL channel was chosen as not to conflict with the second largest Dutch commercial television channel,
SBS6.
RTL 7 got a makeover as well.
RTL 8 got
The Oprah Winfrey Show,
As the World Turns, and the popular Dutch program
Gooische Vrouwen. Furthermore,
RTL 8 is going to repeat the popular programmes of the other RTL-channels, previously done by
RTL 7. On 18 August 2007
Tien ceased to exist and was taken over by
RTL 8. On 15 October 2009
RTL Nederland started simulcasting their
RTL 7 and
RTL 8 channels in
1080i high-definition. ==Teletext==