New management structure confirmed at RTL Deutschland after Sky buy-out

Stephan Schmitter has been confirmed as CEO of newly combined company RTL Deutschland, following regulatory approval for RTL’s takeover of pay TV operator Sky Deutschland.

Stephan Schmitter

The European Commission unconditionally approved the €150m (US$175m) acquisition of Sky Deutschland from Comcast by RTL Deutschland earlier this week.

Set to be finalised on June 1, the deal combines Sky’s premium sports rights – including Bundesliga, DFB-Pokal, Premier League and Formula 1 – with RTL’s entertainment and news brands across RTL+, free-to-air and pay TV. It also unites streaming services RTL+ and WOW.

Alongside Sky Deutschland’s Schmitter, Elke Walthelm will join RTL Deutschland’s management board as chief human resources officer and Michael Radelsberger will be chief consumer officer. Radelsberger will be responsibile for the pay business, which amounts to around 12.3 million subscribers across RTL+, Sky and WOW.

Walthelm is currently chief operating officer at Sky Deutschland while Radelsberger was previously MD of Sky Austria and Sky Media.

Julia Kloke is moving from Bertelsmann subsidiary Riverty, where she was chief financial officer (CFO), to RTL Deutschland to take up the same role.

Thomas Rabe

Ingrid Heisserer, currently CFO and chief human resources officer at RTL Deutschland, and Carsten Schwecke, the firm’s chief commercial, tech and data officer, will leave the company.

Frank Vogel, MD of RTL Deutschland’s advertising sales house, Ad Alliance, will report directly to CEO Schmitter.

Chief operating officer Andreas Fischer, chief content officer Inga Leschek and chief transformation and AI officer Max Orgonyi will remain on the management board of RTL Deutschland.

Thomas Rabe, CEO of RTL Group, said: “The combination of RTL and Sky creates a unique offering for entertainment, sport and news across free-to-air TV, pay TV and streaming. We will gradually combine Sky and RTL and realise annual synergies of around €250m within three years. Our aim is to bring together the best talent, content and processes from both companies.”