creative, innovative, sophisticatedon 28 august, rtl group’s majority shareholder bertelsmann ag...

Creative,innovative, sophisticatedUFA Cinema names first movie projects

Luxembourg

RTL Group shares might be used for a transaction Belgium

The autumn season on RTL-TVI

Germany

RTL Interactive revamps Clipfish

RTL II launches spectacular Marketing campaign

week 36

4 September 2008

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COVER: Photo montage

Last week, UFA Cinema announced its initialline-up of screen projects. They include variousbestsellers of world literature, such as ThePhysician. “For 20 years I’ve been thinking: wehave to make a film of this,” says Wolf Bauer,one UFA Cinema’s four Managing Directors.Now the screen adaptation of Noah Gordon’sbestseller is in the works. The novel sold morethan 6 million copies in Germany alone. In 1999,the book was named one of the ten most popu-lar books of all time at the Madrid Book Fair. Notsurprisingly, the screen rights were extremelysought-after: “We spent days strolling throughBoston’s city park with Noah Gordon. It wasn’tthe money. Others offered more,” says NicoHofmann, another Managing Director at UFACinema. “In the end it was our content thatconvinced him,” he beams.

Set in mediaeval times, The Physician tells thegripping and meticulously researched story ofan 11th century doctor. Its protagonist is RobertJeremy Cole, an orphan who is trained first as abarber-surgeon’s assistant and later as a physi-cian. The story takes viewers to London,France, Persia and Scotland as it describes thesocietal problems of the age.

It is not clear yet when the story will open intheatres. “We’re planning to start shooting inearly 2009 with the first box-office release plan-ned for late 2009, or early 2010 at the latest,”says Peter Friedl, the third of UFA Cinema’s fourManaging Directors.

The demand for German film productions hassurged in recent years, says Friedl. In all, themarket share of German films on the big screensoared to 34 per cent last year - more than everbefore. “Based on films like Lissi und der wildeKaiser with over two million viewers, Die drei

Fragezeichen und das Geheimnis derGeisterinsel with nearly 700,000 viewers andFatih Akin’s internationally acclaimed film, Aufder anderen Seite with 430,000 viewers, it’s safeto say that the share of domestic productions inthe total market confirms the trend that filmsproduced in Germany are drawing more viewersto theatres again,” adds Wolf Bauer. Besides,it’s becoming increasingly easy to marketGerman productions internationally, as exempli-fied by the event movies Dresden and DieFlucht (The Escape), which were produced byTeamworx. “Those two films were watched byas many as 14 million people,” declaresHofmann, who is also Managing Director ofTeamworx, another UFA subsidiary. “That’s anencouraging development.”

In all, UFA Cinema currently has 60 projects inthe pipeline, of which its four ManagingDirectors Wolf Bauer, Thomas Peter Friedl, NicoHofmann and Jürgen Schuster have only

the RTL Group intranetweek 35

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First Projects UFA Cinema to film screen adaptations of bestsellers like The Physician, Three bags fullor Midday Lady.Germany - 29 August 2008

Wolf Bauer


announced eleven so far. Otherconfirmed UFA Cinema projectsinclude the screen adaptation ofBernhard Schlink’s The Weekendabout the psychological legacy ofthe Red Army Faction and EnidBlyton’s St Clare’s series. UFACinema is clearly positioning itselfas a commercial film producerwith a wide range of content,from elaborate adaptations ofnovels and bestsellers to come-dies for a wide range of audien-ces, from family entertainment tointellectually ambitious and political cinema.“Our first raft of films clearly shows UFACinema’s future program profile and the manyways we plan to meet our commercial targetswith creative, innovative and sophisticated cine-ma,” declares Peter Friedl. “I am delighted to becollaborating with such an impressive line-up oftop-notch authors and creative minds who haveentrusted us with the task of interpreting theirstories for the screen.”

One of Germany’s oldest media companies,UFA has a rich and varied tradition. Great filmslike Der blaue Engel and Metropolis were produ-ced in its famous studios. Following its takeoverby Bertelsmann in 1964, UFA shifted its focus toproducing TV content, but late last year thecompany announced a return to its roots.

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Peter Friedl Nico Hofmann

Marnie’s World


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The projects in detail

- The Physician, international bestseller adaptation of the Noah Gordon novel which sold over6 million copies in Germany alone and as recently as 2004 was voted among the 10 mostloved books of all time in a major ZDF show.

- Mieses Karma (Bad Karma), romantic comedy, film adaptation of David Safier’s bestsellerdebut novel (Berlin, Berlin), which was on the Spiegel-bestseller list for 25 weeks.

- Hempel’s Sofa, comedy adapted from Ralf König’s comic of the same name, which, morethan 10 years after the huge success of The bewegte Mann (The Most Desired Man), turnsits attention back to the complexities and perplexities between man and woman.

- Three Bags Full, 3D CGI family thriller based on themes of the international bestseller andsheep detective novel by Leonie Swann. Three Bags Full has sold over 1.5 million copies sofar in Germany alone and is now available in over 30 languages.

- Jungle Child, family entertainment adapted from the childhood memories of Sabine Kueglerwho moved with her parents to the jungle of Western New Guinea aged five, and grew upthere until the age of seventeen. Jungle Child has sold over a million copies in Germany sofar and was translated into 31 languages.

- Das Wochenende (The Weekend), film adaptation of Bernhard Schlink’s latest novel aboutthe psychological legacy of the Red Army Faction that made a much-noticed contribution tocurrent discussion in society and the Press concerning the release from prison of former RAFterrorists.

- The Robbers, a free adaptation of Schiller’s play of the same name. Script by Bora Dagtekin,who caused a stir with his much-noticed award-winning scripts for Turkish for Beginners,Doctor’s Diary and Where is Fred?

- Gott will es (It is God’s Will), thriller against the backdrop of Islamic terrorist attacks, adapt-ed from Christian Schoenborn’s novel of the same name, due out in 2009.

- Marnie’s World, 3D CGI film adapted from the script by brothers Christoph and WolfgangLauenstein who won an Oscar for the best animated short for their first film Balance.

- St. Claire’s, film for children and young adults adapted from Enid Blyton’s world-famouschildren’s books, in collaboration with Feine Filme. To this day the various series and booksby Enid Blyton have been published over 400 million times world-wide, making her one of themost successful authors of all time.

- The Mittagsfrau (Midday Lady), adapted from Julia Franck’s bestseller by the same name.The moving, much-acclaimed novel (winner of the German Book Prize in 2007 amongst oth-ers) has been translated into 25 languages.

The order does not reflect the order of production


Shares might be used for a transactionOn 28 August, RTL Group’s majority shareholder Bertelsmann AG said that it mayreduce its 90.3 percent holding in RTL Group, while keeping a majority stake. Inreaction, RTL Group said that the company is well positioned for a possible majortransaction opportunity.Luxembourg - 29 August 2008

Bertelsmann AG presented its interim results2008 on 28 August. In a conference call,Bertelsmann Chairman and CEO HartmutOstrowski said that Bertelsmann may decreaseits shareholding in RTL Group. BertelsmannCFO Thomas Rabe added that, in the case of asale, Bertelsmann would retain a majority inRTL Group of around 75 per cent.

Asked about this new development, RTL Groupgave the following statement to the media:

“We can confirm that there is a clear understan-ding in our Board of Directors and that includes

our majority shareholder Bertelsmann: if we seea major opportunity that fits with our strategyand creates value for our shareholders, then weare well positioned to go for it. And this alsoincludes, within certain boundaries, a possiblepayment in RTL Group shares. But again - themost important thing is: it has to be the righttarget, for the right price at the right time.”

RTL Group also added that are no concreteplans on the table and declined to comment onpotential acquisition targets.

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Welcome to the autumn seasonThe Belgian RTL family has unveiled the autumn programming schedules.Belgium - 29 August 2008

Some 30 journalists had been invited by thechannel to the SAP Lounge in Bruxelles. Totheir great surprise they discovered the interiorof a studio installed at the stage for the recor-ding of a quiz show. After a short presentation

of the new quiz format, PhilippeDelusine, Managing Director of RTLBelgium, welcomed the journalists tothis meeting “that has already beco-me a tradition”. This year’s fall pro-gramming grid is of crucial importan-ce for the future of RTL Group in theFrench speaking community inBelgium. Philippe Delusine more par-ticularly hinted to the radio sectorand more precisely to Mint. However,despite increasingly fierce competi-tion, the Belgian RTL family managed

to strengthen its leader position in themedia market, with an overwhelming

market share of 33,8 per cent.

Le Grand Quiz des Belges will be the mostplay-oriented event of the fall grid. No less than

Life


100.000 euros are at stake in this game. Everyweek, ten candidates selected during the cas-tings, will try their luck in front of a jury made upof Philippe Malherbe, SabrinaJacobs and Julie Taton. From 8September, Qui sera millionnai-re? (Who wants to be a millio-naire?) will also be back on theair on Monday nights at 20.20.Despite this wide choice ofentertainment, RTL-TVI will notdo without one of its most pres-tigious charity events, namelyTélévie, which will take place on25 April 2009. Broadcast bothon RTL-TVI and the radio stationBel RTL, Télévie 2009 will once again appeal tothe solidarity of its viewers and listeners to sup-port the relentless efforts of Belgian scientiststo fight the terrible disease of cancer.

Thursday night will more especially be targetedto the aficionados of the big screen as this willbe the night of the big box office blockbusters.There will be animation movies likeMadagascar, Monstres et Cie and Ice Age II orbreathtaking action movies like La guerre desMondes (The War of the Worlds), Mr. & Mrs.Smith, Vol 93, The Da Vinci Code as well as thethird episode of Star Wars. The programmingoffer will of course also include some of thebest French comedies, i.e. La Doublure andDikkenek. The new drama series Life as well asthe cult series Dirty Sexy Money is sure to offerviewers great moments. There will also be newseasons of the big US series, Prisonbreak,Desperate Housewives, Les Experts Manhattan(CSI: NY) and also Dr.House, that are widelyacclaimed by Belgian audiences.

There will be a few changes in the RTL-TVInews programmes. Carolin Fontenoy will jointhe presenters of the RTL-TVI news team. Shewill replace Gregory Willocq who will take overthe 13.00 news. As to the news magazines,

Indices will be back for a new season as well asImages à l’appui, scheduled on Monday nightsat 19.00.

The fall schedule of Club RTLwill include even more sportsthan this was the case in thepast, with live football matches,as well as news from the motor-biking world, whereas youngerviewers will be delighted to dis-cover a series of animatedfilms. In the cartoon Dis Nancy?...Dis Tom ?...., which is dedi-cated to them, the main pre-

senters of the channel willaccompany them throughout the day. Fridayevening will be family night with movies appea-ling both to children and parents starting at20.30 with Toy Story I and II, Scooby Doo andStuart Little II.

The channel Plug TV recently renamed PlugRTL will join the of family of channels on 8September and will invite viewers to rediscoverPlug RTL, combining at the same time continui-ty and a new beginning.

RTL Digital is fully news-oriented. News anyw-here, anytime and on all media. Today RTLDigital is in charge of around ten Internet sites,representing a total of 1,408,000 unique visi-tors. RTL-TVI.be, Clubrtl.be or Youmaketv.be,there will be something for everyone.

Stéphane Rosenblatt, director of programmesand news, concludes: “We wish to offer anunparalleled fall schedule (…) and pursue ourdevelopment while strengthening our leader-ship”, that’s RTL-TVI.

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New content and fresh look The clipfish.de video portal is now online in a new look. The radiant new 16:9 designwith the motto “wider, faster, better-looking” intentionally caters even more power-fully to TV viewers’ tastes.

Germany - 29 August 2008

The new layout is notonly fresher, but alsohas a clearer structu-re and less clutter.The entertainmentplatform now standseven more powerfullyfor professional TVcontent, high-qualitycontent from selectmedia partners and,of course, for short,entertaining clips. Onits relaunch, Clipfishcelebrates ten addi-tional channels withprofessional content,bringing the totalnumber of channelsto over 50. The newClipfish will, for ins-tance, present thehighlight clips of allmajor RTL Televisionformats for the autumn and winter season,such as Alarm for Cobra 11, Bauer sucht Frau(The Farmer Wants a Wife) or Super Nanny. Asbefore, viewers can go to RTLnow.de to watchthe shows in their full length. This is the firsttime since its launch in summer 2006 thatClipfish.de has been given a new structure anddesign. The relaunch was realised by RTLInteractive.

Clipfish boss Mathias Blüm says: “The newlook makes Clipfish even more emotional forusers. We are deliberately taking the platformcloser to TV, and included suggestions from ourusers in the relaunch. With its high-quality newlook and improved structure, Clipfish hasgrown up as it opens itself to an even wider tar-get audience.”

Advertisers will be benefiting from the changesas well: marketing agent IP Deutschland hasexpanded its portfolio of advertising options on

Clipfish.de.Brand-name advertisers can nowstage their own brand worlds in customisedbrand channels. Another new form of adverti-sing is the Skytangle – a combination MediumRectangle and Wide Skyscraper that providesan alternative to the Wallpaper for advertiserswho want permanent, exclusive integration onthe homepage.

There’s a new feature in spot promotions aswell: viral spots can now be integrated andplayed right on the Clipfish homepage as ‘Spotof the Day’. In addition, the extra content hasincreased the number of professional clips thatcan be equipped with pre-rolls to meet therising demand. A new B2B trailer on the IPDeutschland website demonstrates Clipfish’snew positioning and extensive advertisingoptions.

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Clipfish.de


Who’s Agathe Bauer? An analysis of searches on the RTL Group web-site indicated that an above-average number ofpeople searched for ‘Agathe Bauer.’ Could shebe a vastly popular colleague of ours? Not at all,as a quick check with 104.6 RTL Radio revea-led.Germany - 26 August 2008

“I still remember how we spent ages wonderingwhat a listener was referring to when sherequested the Agathe Bauer song – until wefigured out that she meant I got the Power bySnap,” explains Arno Müller, ProgrammeDirector at 104.6 RTL and moderator of Arnound die Morning Crew, where the misheardlyrics, now affectionately referred to as AgatheBauer songs, are now a regular element in theshow, as such ‘mishearances’ are of coursehardly an isolated phenomenon. “For instance,on Chris Norman’s Midnight Lady you canclearly hear him sing in German ‘Oma fiel insKlo’ (Grandma fell in the loo) at some point, andin Queen’s Flash the German word‘Gurkensalat’ (cucumber salad) occurs repea-tedly,” smiles Arno Müller.

“Agathe Bauer songs are all overGermany now, Olli Geißen evencovered them in his show on RTLTelevision,” says Arno. “Our lis-teners are incredibly creative incoming up with Agathe Bauersongs – you wouldn’t believewhat new words you can stillhear in a song you’ve listened toagain and again. We’re delightedevery time!”

The complete archive of Agathe Bauer songsis posted on the 104.6 RTL Radio homepage.

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visit

http://104.6rtl.com

Arno Müller


Specially appointedregistrar In her capacity as a presenter of Million DollarWedding, Wendy van Dijk, had been namedregistrar for one day and married an Amsterdamcouple.

The Netherlands - 1 September 2008

The ceremony took place in the Zuidoost dis-trict of Amsterdam and was conducted in fullby Wendy, who had taken an oath administeredby a judge and prepared extensively for theceremony. The words “I do” resounded loudand clear throughout the chamber.

As part of her new programme Million DollarWedding, which made its debut on Saturday,August 30 on RTL 4 with a market share of 18.6per cent. Wendy was administered a special

one-day oath by a judge so that she couldserve as a special registrar. Everything wasmade possible thanks to the cooperation of theZuidoost district of Amsterdam. The bride andgroom were pleasantly surprised when approa-ched and asked if they wanted to be married bythe RTL 4 presenter. The bridal couple washonoured to be asked and felt that it made thebest day of their lives that little bit better.

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Wendy van Dijk


Spectacular marketingcampaignRTL II is promoting the launch of two award-winning US series, Californication and Dexter,on 29 September 2008 with the year’s biggestcampaign yet for a TV show. Germany - 2 September 2008

After last year’s Heroes, which was advertisedwith megaposters among other things, RTL II islaunching the two new premium series with themost versatile use of various advertising for-mats ever – in campaigns individually createdfor the shows. Ads in printed media, outdooradvertising, cinema, TV and radio commercials,taxi advertising, as well as an extensiveambient and online campaign will appeal tovarious audience groups and draw attention tothe most spectacular new series of the autumnTV season.

With a budget amounting to several millioneuros, the campaign is RTL II’s biggest marke-ting campaign of the current year. Nearly 60percent of the budget will go to promotingCalifornication, with 40 percent spent onDexter. The promotion was developed by RTL IIConsumer Marketing in collabora-tion with Scholz & Friends, whodeveloped the central theme, andOpium Effect. In particular, OpiumEffect is adapting the campaign forall on-air and online activities.

While the promotional campaign forCalifornication, starring DavidDuchovny, is aimed at both menand women, Dexter caters to ayoung male audience.

For Oliver Haase, Director ofMarketing & Communications atRTL II, the campaign highlights boththe importance of the new series,

and RTL II’s direction in general: “Outstandingseries are a major image-defining feature ofRTL II. Californication and Dexter appeal to abroad, very modern audience. Our strategy istherefore to reach different target groups withdifferent, precisely directed measures in orderto draw attention to the two series launches. Inaddition, the high-quality campaign gives thechannel’s image a positive boost.”

Alongside Californication and Dexter, fromSeptember RTL II will also present long-awai-ted new episodes of Heroes, the relaunch ofthe Sci-Fi series Flash Gordon and a new sea-son of the series Smallville. This underlines thechannel’s claim – in the wake of top seriesincluding Band of Brothers, Rome, 24 andStargate – of delivering the year’s best serieslaunches.

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David Duchovny

Dexter


UFA to produce onlineseries for Studi VZ UFA and Studi VZ, Germany’s largest social network with over 10 million users, have agreed to collaborate on the production of online serial formats.Germany - 2 Septembre 2008

The series will be developed specifically forStudi VZ and the two other VZ platformsSchüler VZ and Mein VZ, with their content andstyle reflecting the typical features of the com-munities. UFA and Studi VZ will produce andmarket the series as equal partners.

Right in line with Studi VZ’s target demogra-phic, the first Grundy UFA-produced series willdeal with the trials and tribulations of life as astudent. It is scheduled to launch in October2008. This is the most extensive such co-ope-ration to date between a TV production firmand a social network.

UFA’s Managing DirectorWolf Bauer declares: “YoungEuropeans between theages of 14 and 16 yearsalready spend ten per centmore time on the Internetthan watching TV. Instead ofwaiting for them to return totheir TV sets, we have tooffer them programmes thatreach them where theyspend their time. This is the

incredibly exciting and multifaceted challengethat is turning us TV producers into programmemakers for all sorts of platforms. I am delightedabout our active collaboration with new, inno-vative and highly professional partners in thisbusiness.”

Studi VZ CEO Marcus Riecke says: “Our newseries about the life of a group of studentsgives our members even more entertainment inthe future and will hopefully generate a lot ofdialogue in the community. We are thrilled tohave found in UFA the perfect partner for thisinnovative, exciting project.”

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www.studivz.net


On Bel RTL, the listener is king For the fall season 2008/09, the leading radio station in Brussels and Wallonia is inno-vating its schedule and is thus inviting five listeners to present the new programmes ofBel RTL.

Belgium - 3 September 2008

According to the radio station, which celebra-ted its 17 years of existence earlier this week,these changes are right on target, as its pro-grammes are made for its listeners. Focussingon listeners’ interests is no empty promise atBel RTL who has proven this on many occa-sions. Last April, the station staged an open airat the Hilton Brussels, based on an entirely newconcept: 40 faithful listeners had been invitedto meet 40 celebrities. On 21 July, the stationonce again had much to offer on the occasionof the Belgian National Day.

It is indeed a concrete way of keeping true tothe slogan “Nous, c’est vous” (We, that’s you).Bel RTL demonstrated its commitment onceagain at the start of this autumn season: five lis-teners went on stage, facing a crowd of ama-zed journalists, to announce the details of theupcoming season’s festivities programme.

Thus it was revealed that some changes hadbeen made to the morning news programme,which now starts earlier; in fact Belgians seemto get up earlier nowadays. Some changeshave also been made to the composition of thepresenter teams and have been acclaimed inthe press, with Le Soir writing in its edition of 2September: “an interesting change of tonewhich has proved successful, right from thefirst programme”. On weekdays, a game calledLes mousquetaires has been added to theschedule whereas, the weekend grid featurestwo new music programmes, Ca s’en va et çarevient and All Access 100% belge.

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Jean-Jacques Deleeuw, Managing Director, Bel RTL


Easy, effective, mobile video adsIP Deutschland integrated L’Oréal Paris’s latest TV commercial for its men’s cosmetics line Men Expert in the video podcast offerings of the news channel N-TV,which were accessed over 350,000 times.Germany - 4 September 2008

The results are impressive: 367,000 downloadswere registered between 1 June and 18 August2008, distributed between the two podcastsites with their respective focuses on news andbusiness.

Its clearly positioned content makes N-TV anexcellent way to reach male consumers in par-ticular: 68 per cent of n-tv.de users are men.

Frank Herold, head of Interactive Solutions atIP Deutschland: “The unique position of the adand its remarkable consumer uptake are cleararguments in favour of podcast advertising.This medium lends itself especially well to inno-vative extension of a TV campaign.”

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A great start for the newseasonMonday 1st September, W9, the digital terres-trial channel of Groupe M6, beat its all timeaudience rating with the showing of theAmerican action thriller The Siege.France - 4 September 2008

W9 viewers were completely enthralled by thishead-on confrontation between terrorists andFBI agents portrayed convincingly by two fineactors, Denzel Washington and Bruce Willis.With 1.1 million viewers for an overall audienceshare of 10.7 per cent, W9 was in top positionamongst the new digital terrestrial channelsand in fifth position amongst the national chan-nels.

In August, W9 was the leading digital terrestrialchannel for the under 50s viewer category withan audience share of 3.3 per cent for this targetgroup.

For Frédéric de Vincelles, the managing direc-tor, “W9 targets 15-45 year olds, which is afamily audience. (…) It relies on M6 for much ofits day-to-day synergy.” But W9 sees itself asmore than just “a mirror channel” of M6. Forproof, “80 per cent of our series and magazinesare specific to W9” stresses Frédéric deVincelles in an interview with the Figaro dated3rd September. The excellent financial andadvertising results reported by W9 also mean itwill be able to invest in a premier choice pro-gramme schedule.

W9 logo


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Christian Clerici to present Mein RestaurantEarlier, Vox had announced the introduction of its own event show for the TV seasonahead: Mein Restaurant. Now Vox has named the presenter: Christian Clerici. In Germanyhe was most recently seen on ZDF as the presenter of the game show Sudoku – Das Quiz.Prior to this, he had presented several other shows in Germany.Germany - 28 August 2008

DSDS on track More than 25,000 singers had applied for the new season of Deutschland sucht denSuperstar (Idol) by the deadline – and the open casting sessions are still ahead.Germany - 27 August 2008

TV movie about Erwin RommelErwin Rommel also known as Desert Fox – a member of Hitler’s personal protection batta-lion, war hero of Nazi propaganda, and the most famous German Field Marshal of WorldWar II – is the subject of a new TV movie that Teamworx is preparing with SWR.Germany - 1 September 2008

Carola Ferstl to give financial advice on Frauenzimmer.deN-TV business anchor Carola Ferstl now writes a weekly column for the women’s siteFrauenzimmer.de.Germany - 1 September 2008

RTL Television celebrates 16 years as young viewers’favourite channelIn the Olympic month of August, RTL Television was the most-watched channel among 14-to 49-year-old viewers again – and has been so for 16 years running. Mediengruppe RTLDeutschland’s channels led the market once more in August.Germany - 2 September 2008

Excellent performance in August In August 2008, M6 was the only big channel to have increased its evening audienceshare among viewers aged 4 years and over compared to August 2007. France - 2 September 2008


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People

Dawn Airey will takeover at Five in lateOctober 2008United Kingdom - 27 August 2008

During a conference call with the media regar-ding RTL Group’s interim results, GerhardZeiler, CEO of RTL Group, announced thatDawn Airey will take up her post as Chair andCEO of Five earlier than expected.

Mark White, Interim CEO of Five, informedFive’s employees afterwards and said: “I’mdelighted to be able to announce that DawnAirey will be joining us as Chair and CEO earlier

than anticipated in late October. This is moregreat news for Five.”

Dawn Airey will take over from Mark White, whohas been interim CEO of Five since 2 May2008, following the resignation of JaneLighting.

Her exact starting date is not yet confirmed.

Dawn Airey

People

Appointment at M6's CommunicationsDepartmentFrance - 27 August 2008

On 26 August, Yann de Kersauson has beenappointed to the position of Deputy Director ofthe communications department of GroupeM6.

Under the responsibility of Emilie Pietrini,Director of Communication, he will supervisethe group’s external relations.

Since 2003 Yann de Kersauson, 33, a graduateof the London School of Economics had beenHead of Coordination with the Chairman of theM6 Management Board.

Yann de KersausonPhoto by © Jean Brice Lemal / M6


People

Simon Spalding promoted to RegionalCEOUnited Kingdom - 3 September 2008

Simon Spalding has been appointed RegionalCEO with responsibility for all European territo-ries, excluding the UK and Germany, and forAsia Pacific. Doug Gluck will be stepping downfrom his role as CEO, Europe, Australasia &Latin America.

While director of the Asia Pacific region,Spalding has overseen a number of importantachievements for FremantleMedia: the mergingof the Australian production companies GrundyAustralia and Crackerjack into Australia’s lea-ding and highly successful independent produ-cer, FremantleMedia Australia as well as thelandmark deal just secured with Japanese pro-duction company TV Man Union.

Simon Spalding, Regional CEO said: “Europe isat an exciting turning point and experiencingsignificant changes. I am looking forward totaking on this new role and the opportunitiesfor expansion that lie ahead in Europe as wellas in Australia and Asia”.

Tony Cohen, Chief Executive Officer ofFremantleMedia, said: “Simon has built AsiaPacific into an exceptional business, one with agreat management team and great potential.Simon is helping us expand into a number ofnew markets and will continue to play a vitalrole in pushing that forward. However we arealso intensifying our focus on Europe at a timeof increasing opportunity. Simon will relocateto Europe to take this business on. At the sametime I would like to thank Doug Gluck for hissignificant contribution to the company overthe years, for helping to build upFremantleMedia’s global network.”

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Simon Spalding


People

UFA Sports signs RobertMüller von Vultejus Germany - 4 September 2008

Robert Müller von Vultejus will join PhilipCordes in running the UFA Sports GmbH agen-cy, effective immediately. In April 2008, RTLGroup had announced the re-establishment ofthis sports rights marketing agency. The com-pany is based in Hamburg and is primarilyengaged in the international marketing ofmedia rights.

Müller von Vultejus is a well-known player in theworld of sports rights marketing, having wor-ked for 14 years for competitor Sportfive, since2002 as Managing Director and ExecutiveBoard member for the global media business.He had already worked closely with his fellowboard member Philip Cordes, himself formerSportfive CEO, at Sportfive.

“I am looking forward to this new entrepreneu-rial challenge,” says Müller von Vultejus. “UFASports combines the momentum of a youngstart-up company with an experienced teamand a strong, reliable main shareholder, makingit a highly promising mix.”

Elmar Heggen, CFO of RTL Group, also looksforward to working with his trusted manage-ment team: “Robert Müller von Vultejus is anenhancement for UFA Sports. We form a well-rehearsed team, capable of establishing thecompany in the sports rights market.”

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Robert Müller von Vultejus

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creative, innovative, sophisticatedon 28 august, rtl group’s majority shareholder bertelsmann ag...

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