This announcement has long been expected by Screen Digest, with RTL and ProSieben understood to have been working on the proposition for about a year.

The portal would address fragmentation in the German online TV space. Not only do each of the major free-to-air broadcasters offer programming on their own services, at present, RTL and ProSieben are offering dedicated catch-up portals for individual channels, such as RTL's rtl-now.rtl.de, voxnow.de and superrtlnow.de, and ProSieben's ProSieben.de and Sat1.de. Both broadcasters also operate UGC sites, MyVideo (ProSieben) and Clipfish (RTL), and each has experimented with offering professionally-produced content from the groups' TV channels on these. In addition, ProSieben offers movies and TV shows (outside the catch-up window) via transactional service Maxdome (a JV between ProSieben and United Internet).

The new JV will draw comparisons with Hulu, the US online TV service backed by three of the networks - ABC, Fox and NBC - offering consumers a single point of access for catch-up TV programming online from several major broadcasters.
 
However, it is not a carbon copy of Hulu. The company that RTL and ProSieben are setting up will only be handling the back end of the service; the JV will not be aggregating programming and content providers participating in Project Amazonas will be entitled to sell their own ad inventory. Broadcasters will also be able to offer their content in discrete areas of the site, allowing them to retain their own channel branding. RTL and ProSieben hope that by offering the industry an open platform they will be able to avoid potential regulatory hurdles. Screen Digest understands both companies have already consulted the EC, as well as the German Cartel Office.

Despite the JV being an open platform, it is still unclear which other broadcasters would join it. ARD and ZDF have expressed a general interest but there has been no official endorsement. Indeed, the public broadcasters find themselves in a paradoxical situation; while they have been invited to join the JV, they are also facing severe pressure from commercial broadcasters to reduce the amount of content available in their respective Mediathek services amid claims they are exceeding their public service obligations.

Furthermore, competing initiatives to bundle online TV access in Germany are emerging which would challenge exclusivity of the ProSieben/RTL initiative as a one-stop destination for online TV.  For instance, YouTube recently agreed a deal with cable and satellite channel Das Vierte to 'carry' its catch-up content and already has a partnership with ZDF (though this is limited to clips). YouTube's deals with Channel 4 and Five in the UK demonstrate the Google-owned site's potential to emerge as a rival online TV portal. Meanwhile, Hulu reportedly remains determined to pursue its European expansion plans.