European broadcasting giant RTL Group has unveiled a new German management team for RTL Deutschland, days after gaining regulatory approval for its takeover of pay-TV operator Sky Deutschland.
The team will comprise executives from both RTL and Sky, with the RTL Deutschland CEO Stephan Schmitter taking over the merged business as Chief Executive.
From Sky Deutschland, Elke Walthelm will join RTL Deutschland’s management board as Chief Human Resources Officer, and Michael Radelsberger will join as Chief Consumer Officer.
Julia Kloke is moving from Bertelsmann subsidiary Riverty to RTL Deutschland as Chief Financial Officer (CFO).
Ingrid Heisserer, currently CFO of RTL Deutschland, and Carsten Schwecke, currently Chief Commercial, Tech and Data Officer of RTL Deutschland, will leave the company.
Frank Vogel, Managing Director of RTL Deutschland’s advertising sales house Ad Alliance, will report directly to CEO Stephan Schmitter.
Several RTL Deutschland executives will remain on the management board, including: Chief Operating Officer (COO) Andreas Fischer; Chief Content Officer Inga Leschek; and Chief Transformation and AI Officer Max Orgonyi.
The European Commission approved RTL Deutschland’s €150m acquisition of Sky Deutschland from Comcast last week. The transaction combines Sky Deutschland’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 two streamers in the German market: RTL+ and WOW.
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.”
Schmitter added: “The composition of the new management board underlines our clear focus on consistently aligning the joint organisation with the future of television – particularly the streaming business.
HBO Max recently signed a distribution deal with leading German streamer RTL+ ahead of its launch in Germany on January 13. Discover more here.
Netflix launches first daily live show The Breakfast Club
Netflix will stream US morning radio show The Breakfast Club daily on its platform from 1 June 2026, marking the streamer’s first daily live programme.
ITV launches Live Addressable+ with Omnicom
ITV, the UK’s largest commercial broadcaster, has officially launched its live broadcast addressable advertising product, Live Addressable+, with an exclusive beta trial in partnership with Omnicom Media Group.
Enghouse Networks partners with INVIDI
Telecoms and media specialist Enghouse Networks and addressable TV advertising provider INVIDI Technologies have announced a new integration that reportedly expands advanced advertising capabilities across IP video environments.
Sports content races ahead in SVOD – Gracenote
Analysis by Gracenote, the content intelligence business unit of Nielsen, has shown that sports have quickly become a foundational part of the subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) content mix and now make up 5% of overall programming on leading services.
Bitmovin wins MUBI deal
Video streaming software specialist Bitmovin has been selected by film company MUBI as its cloud VOD encoding partner for its streaming platform.
.jpg)