New leadership: RTL Germany is put on a short leash

RTL's competitors are Netflix, Disney and Amazon, which is why the company has to reinvent itself.

In the middle of this period of upheaval, RTL Deutschland gets a new management - with a special construction.

Thomas Rabe takes over the chairmanship of the management board.

He has been in charge of the listed RTL Group since 2019, which in turn is majority owned by the Bertelsmann media group, and Thomas Rabe is also the CEO there.

As Chief Operating Officer (COO), Rabe brings Andreas Fischer to the side, who has been involved in strategy and corporate development at RTL for many years.

On the other hand, Stephan Schäfer, who was responsible for the merger of RTL and Gruner + Jahr and the further development of the RTL program, is leaving the company.

Shepherd,

who began his career as a journalist at the Bild newspaper and then switched to Gruner + Jahr, has been a member of the management of the Hamburg publishing house since 2013.

Schäfer has been managing RTL Germany since last autumn in a dual leadership with Matthias Dang.

He remains in the management, as do Alexander Glatz and Oliver Radtke.

Thomas Rabe said in an interview with the FAZ that he wanted to broaden the leadership and look for a long-term solution for the top position.

If he focuses on RTL Germany, he will also be able to judge better which personality RTL Germany will need for the top position in the future.

He himself will only take over the post until further notice, emphasized Rabe - "certainly no longer than a year."

has been a member of the management of the Hamburg publishing house since 2013.

Schäfer has been managing RTL Germany since last autumn in a dual leadership with Matthias Dang.

He remains in the management, as do Alexander Glatz and Oliver Radtke.

Thomas Rabe said in an interview with the FAZ that he wanted to broaden the leadership and look for a long-term solution for the top position.

If he focuses on RTL Germany, he will also be able to judge better which personality RTL Germany will need for the top position in the future.

He himself will only take over the post until further notice, emphasized Rabe - "certainly no longer than a year."

has been a member of the management of the Hamburg publishing house since 2013.

Schäfer has been managing RTL Germany since last autumn in a dual leadership with Matthias Dang.

He remains in the management, as do Alexander Glatz and Oliver Radtke.

Thomas Rabe said in an interview with the FAZ that he wanted to broaden the leadership and look for a long-term solution for the top position.

If he focuses on RTL Germany, he will also be able to judge better which personality RTL Germany will need for the top position in the future.

He himself will only take over the post until further notice, emphasized Rabe - "certainly no longer than a year."

Thomas Rabe said in an interview with the FAZ that he wanted to broaden the leadership and look for a long-term solution for the top position.

If he focuses on RTL Germany, he will also be able to judge better which personality RTL Germany will need for the top position in the future.

He himself will only take over the post until further notice, emphasized Rabe - "certainly no longer than a year."

Thomas Rabe said in an interview with the FAZ that he wanted to broaden the leadership and look for a long-term solution for the top position.

If he focuses on RTL Germany, he will also be able to judge better which personality RTL Germany will need for the top position in the future.

He himself will only take over the post until further notice, emphasized Rabe - "certainly no longer than a year."

Susanne Preuss

Business correspondent in Hamburg.

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RTL is of vital importance to Bertelsmann, the second-largest European media group with sales of 18.7 billion euros, each accounting for around a third of sales and earnings.

RTL Group has stakes in 56 television channels, eight streaming services and 36 radio stations.

In Germany, RTL+ is a cross-media streaming service that is also being developed, which also offers the online versions of print brands from the Gruner + Jahr portfolio and, more recently, music in an app.

RTL+ wants to be able to stand up to its American competitors, among other things because of the regionally influenced offers, but also because of a low price.

The currently most popular rate from RTL + costs 4.99 euros.

It is therefore much cheaper than the offer of other streaming providers.

But the new combination of video and music is also competitive at EUR 9.99 for the time being and later EUR 12.99, Rabe said confidently in an interview with the FAZ.

"Especially in times of inflation, something like this can be very popular," he expects: "The timing is very good."

In general, however, inflation is a significant risk, especially since the corona pandemic, the Ukraine war and the uncertainty surrounding the energy markets still have to be overcome.

“I have never experienced so many external negative factors occurring at the same time.

This is such an extraordinary situation that active action is required," said Rabe in an interview with the FAZ, to justify his personal commitment at the head of RTL Germany.

And he added: "Active control means that you keep an eye on the costs in addition to the revenues, because it's about the ability to invest." The reluctance of advertising customers caused sales to shrink in the second quarter.

That is currently the biggest challenge, said Rabe, but it is also necessary to manage the switch from television to video on demand,

RTL has to expand video and text and also has to complete the integration of the publishing house Gruner + Jahr.

Overall, RTL Germany is doing well, emphasized Rabe.

For the RTL Group, business in Germany generated 36 percent of sales and 40 percent of earnings in the first half of the year.

It is part of Bertelsmann's strategy to build up national champions in various countries with RTL in this way, which can score points for their respective regional reference compared to the offers from America.

In Germany, Rabe would love to include the broadcasting group ProSieben.Sat1 in such a champion.

Regardless of the will of the ProSieben.Sat1 shareholders, he could probably fail with this intention at the moment because of the antitrust authorities, who would clearly diagnose a dominant position of the broadcasters on the advertising market.

The restriction of the relevant market to television advertising is no longer up-to-date due to the shift in consumer habits to the digital area, he warns.

Bertelsmann is expecting the decision of the antitrust authorities in France and the Netherlands this fall,

where mergers are sought.

In the Netherlands, nothing has been heard at all, Rabe reported in an interview with the FAZ.

In France, while there were significant concerns from the services, he had an opportunity to reiterate his arguments in hearings on September 5th and 6th.