-- As of 1 September, Mahr will head the Management Board's
new Sports and New Business division
-- Reorganization of Management Board to strengthen programming
and new business divisions
-- Friedrich-Carl Wachs to leave company
MUNICH, Germany, May 23, 2005 (PRIMEZONE) -- Hans Mahr, 56, is leaving the RTL Group to join Premiere AG. The Supervisory Board of Premiere AG today appointed Mahr as Head of the Sports and New Business Division. Mahr will take over the newly established division on 1 September. "Hans Mahr is one of the most experienced and most creative television producers in Germany and we're very happy to have won him over to Premiere," said Rainer Grosskopf, Chairman of the Supervisory Board. "Reorganizing the Management Board will further strengthen Premiere's business capabilities, innovative power and editorial expertise."
Mahr will be in charge of Sports Programming and Sports Rights Acquisition at Premiere. Mahr will, as a result, also become the Managing Director of the newly established subsidiary Primus Sport, an agency for sports rights and sports marketing. Furthermore, he is to drive the development of new Internet and mobile phone offerings. Advertising Sales will also fall under Hans Mahr's responsibility on the board. In the area of sports, Premiere sees its greatest potential as a provider of integrated sponsoring, communication and sales concepts for advertising. Mahr will also assume responsibility for Premiere Austria, whose programming mainly focuses on Austrian sports.
At present, Hans Mahr is still a member of the Operations Management Committee of the RTL Group. As Executive Coordinator of Group Synergies, he is in charge of developing cross-station projects within the pan-European broadcasting group. Mahr was previously Chief Editor, Director of Information and assistant Managing Director of RTL Television. During his ten-year career at RTL, Mahr, a native of Austria, developed and enhanced the information and sports profile of the company, which is the farthest reaching private German TV station. For several years, Mahr was also in charge of developing internet and e-business offerings as Managing Director of the RTL multimedia subsidiary. Before he joined RTL, Mahr was Managing Director of the Kronen-Zeitung, a daily newspaper with by far the highest circulation in Austria.
New responsibilities for the Head of Fiction and Special Interest
As Head of Fiction and Special Interest, Hans Seger will remain in charge of programming for Film, Series, and Theme Channels. Mr. Seger's scope of responsibilities will be extended to include Premiere's business and programming initiatives. He is also in charge of PREMIERE HD, among other developments. The new Premiere HDTV offering is scheduled to start in November. Another future area of focus will be PREMIERE DIREKT+, a video-on-demand service that can be used via compatible Premiere digital recorders. PREMIERE DIREKT+ will make its market debut as early as July. Mr. Seger will also head the development of Premiere's own productions and advance the company's role as a co-producer of fictional entertainment programs on a national and international level.
Friedrich-Carl Wachs leaves the company following reorganization of Management Board
With the reorganization of the Management Board, Dr. Friedrich-Carl Wachs will be leaving Premiere. His responsibilities as Head of Strategy and Development will be allocated to other divisions. Michael Bornicke, Chief Financial Officer, will assume responsibility for Information Management. Consumer Electronics and Network Management will be taken over by Markus Schmid, Head of Marketing and Sales. Media Policy will be integrated into the area of Legal & Regulatory Affairs, a division headed by Dr. Holger Ensslin, who reports directly to the Chief Executive Officer. (An overview of the new Management Board is available for download at http://info.premiere.de).
Dr. Georg Kofler, Chief Executive Officer of Premiere AG: "In its new formation, the board of Premiere is in a better position to meet the challenges of the future. I am particularly pleased to have Hans Mahr and Hans Seger, two top-notch TV executives on board. In both areas, sports and fiction, we are facing important operational challenges and new strategic decisions that require the attention of a separate management board member. The rearrangement of the board will make Premiere business operations more effective and more innovative, and enables programming and sales managers to focus clearly on their core tasks. I would like to thank Friedrich-Carl Wachs for his dedicated work and his contribution to the restructuring of Premiere. He is leaving Premiere on the best of terms. We all wish him every success for the future and would be most happy to meet him again."
This press release and other information can be downloaded from the Internet at http://info.premiere.de.