RTL Television, Germany's leading private broadcaster, has acquired a package of films and TV series from Warner Bros. International Television (WBIT), including the free TV rights to Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone, The Lord Of The Rings, Ocean's Eleven, The Matrix, and The Perfect Storm.

RTL's CEO Gerhard Zeiler declared that "the purchase of these magnificent films highlights RTL's extraordinary feature film competence" while Jeffery R. Schlesinger, president WBIT, said that his company was "pleased to be back in business with our partners at RTL. We've had a longstanding relationship with them over the years and we believe this deal speaks not only to their aggressive drive to acquire programming, but also to the high quality of Warner Bros.' properties."

Described by RTL as "the most attractive feature film available for the German market during the last ten years", the package covers the German free-TV rights to 144 Warner Bros. feature films as well as to five TV series such as Gilmore Girls and Smallville.

Unconfirmed German press reports put the value of the package at around $200m.