Private TV broadcasters

ProSiebenSat.1 owns TV broadcasting services ProSieben, SAT.1, kabel eins (‘Cable one’), Sat.1 Gold, ProSieben Maxx and sixx. Additionally, the concern and its subsidiary company Studio 71 also market YouTube programs like LeFloid video blog. The shares of the public company are now dispersed among several owners, after it got through the hands of numerous financial investors and Private-Equity-Funds. The list of the shareholders includes such companies as Permira and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. alongside with an Israeli-Egyptian media mogul Haim Saban.

The biggest European media concern Bertelsmann, which is controlled by Liz Mohn and family, is the majority owner of the RTL Group (that includes numerous private TV-channels RTL, RTL 2, Vox, n-tv etc.).

Seventy-five percent of shares of the RTL-Group (RTL, RTL II, VOX, n-tv etc.) belong to the Bertelsmann concern, which also holds 25 percent of the Spiegel’s shares.

The German private TV market is basically divided between the biggest European media group Bertelsmann and ProSiebenSat.1-Media SE.

The most significant private broadcasting services are RTL, Sat.1, ProSieben, n-tv and N24.

ProSiebenSat.1 concern has close ties with the Axel Springer publishing house, which held 12 percent of shares of ProSiebenSat.1 for a while. In July 2015, the plug was pulled on the merger of the two media groups because of the competition law norms.

A TV production company Spiegel TV that has about 200 staff members produces TV content for the Bertelmann’s broadcasting services RTL and VOX as well as for the Sat.1. Its production amounts to almost 20 hours of broadcasting time pro week.

Bertelsmann media group also owns various radio stations, music labels, copyright holders and book publishers, including the world’s biggest publisher of books in English — Random House. The concern also exerts major influence on German politics, society and science through Bertelsmann-Stiftung (the Bertelsmann foundation). This foundation is affiliated with primarily German big business and the conservative establishment and advocates allegiance to the transatlantic alliance (with the US) and finances research projects with similar goals. Bertelsmann-Stiftung has also taken the leading role in the ongoing privatization of the Germany’s health system. It also inspired the creation of the highly-disputed Agenda 2010 (German welfare system reform) that is linked to the cut in social services.

Liz Mohn is the widow of Reinhard Mohn, the owner of the media conglomerate Bertelsmann. Her career closely resembles the life journey of the current Axel Springer Verlag majority owner, Friede Springer. At first, Liz Mohn was also a lover of the company’s founder and then progressed up the carrier ladder from being a telephone operator to becoming a major owner of Bertelsmann along with her children, just like Friede Springer did in the case of Axel Springer Verlag.

Like Friede Springer, Liz Mohn is believed to be a personal friend of German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Thomas Ebeling, 2011 "Medienmann des Jahres" (Media Personality of the Year) Award laureate, is one of Germany’s top managers and runs the business of ProSiebenSat.1 Media SE since 2009. Earlier, he was in particular a marketing manager of Pepsi-Cola and a top manager in a pharmaceutical giant Novartis. His ProSiebenSat.1 CEO annual salary was €27 million (US$29.9 million) last year.

Axel Springer publishing house has significant influence on the news content broadcast by private TV. The news broadcasting service N24 is a part of the Axel Springer concern. Alongside its own program, N24 also produces news content for ProSieben, Sat.1 and kabel eins.

Earlier, before N24 was taken over by Axel Springer publishing house, it belonged to the ProSiebenSat.1 Media SE and was later sold to another consortium, the most prominent member of which was Stefan Aust, the former editor-in-chief of Der Spiegel and acting executive editor of the daily Die Welt. After being taken over by Axel Springer publishing house, N24 made a major shift from news to infotainment.

The Bertelsmann concern is mostly controlled by the Mohn family (Liz Mohn, Dr. Brigitte Mohn, Christoph Mohn) with its top management also including representatives of the BMW, Nestlé, E.ON, Volkswagen, Daimler and Henkel concerns.