RTL Television (formerly RTL plus), or simply RTL, is a German commercial television station distributed via cable and satellite along with DVB-T (Digital Video Broadcasting – Terrestrial), in larger population centres. It belongs to the RTL Group and is, in terms of market share, Germany's largest private free-to-air broadcaster.

It started broadcasting on 2 January 1984 at 17:27 from VHF channel E7 (system B, color PAL) in Luxembourg and at first only had a theoretical audience of approx. 200,000. Until 1988, when it moved its headquarters to Cologne, Germany, it was considered a Luxembourg-based station.

A spin-off of the German version of Radio Luxembourg, RTL started with a low budget and many of the early hosts simply presented versions of their radio formats adapted for television. One early success was the quiz show "Ein Tag wie kein anderer" (A Day Like No Other), in which candidates were competing for a holiday.

RTL plus was famous in its early years for showing low-budget films and American programmes. It was the number 2 commercial broadcaster.