Ketelaar exits Sat.1

MIPCOM: Taco Ketelaar, senior VP of primetime entertainment and reality programming at Sat.1 in Germany, has left the company after two years.

Taco Ketelaar

Ketelaar, who joined the broadcaster in 2013, is expected to announce the move to his ProSiebenSat.1 Group colleagues this morning.

He previously worked as CEO of Warner Bros-controlled Benelux formats outfit BlazHoffski.

He was unavailable for comment this morning but C21 understands he has left the channel without another job to go to.

One of his biggest commissions for Sat.1 was Talpa Media reality format Utopia which aired as Newtopia from February to July 2015.

The show rated well, drawing 2.8 million viewers, corresponding to a 10% market share for the final. However, it was controversial for disagreements between participants and crew and stoppages for technical reasons.

Ketelaar was the creative force behind Fear Factor for Endemol, went on to co-found Who Wants to be a Millionaire? buyer 2waytraffic and was CEO of BlazHoffski, overseeing its takeover by Warner Bros in 2011.