Rabe takes RTL chair

European broadcaster RTL has appointed the CEO of its parent company, Bertelsmann, as its new chairman.

Thomas Rabe will succeed non-executive director Siegfried Luther, whose mandate expired yesterday. Rabe is already CEO and chairman of Bertelsmann, which recently mooted the idea of an IPO for the first time in its history.

The news comes after RTL appointed Guillaume de Posch and Anke Schaferkordt as co-CEOs to replace Turner Broadcasting-bound Gerhard Zeiler.

Also joining the RTL board are group chief financial officer Elmar Heggen, de Posch and Schaferkordt, and Bernd Kundrun and Rolf Schmidt-Holtz.

Luther, an RTL founder, stepped down from his position after the firm’s AGM yesterday.

In related news, RTL’s plans to launch an ad-supported joint venture video on-demand service for Germany with commercial rival ProSieben has been knocked on the head, according to a report in German newspaper Die Welt.

Regulators had already ruled against the service – dubbed the ‘German Hulu’ – leading RTL and ProSieben to sue in a bid to overturn the decision.

But on Wednesday a Düsseldorf-based court found reportedly ruled the platform would “strengthen” the pair’s grip on the German TV advertising market.

The final decision is expected on June 20, but it appears now the broadcasters will be unsuccessful.