Finance Meeting 2007 Interview with Elmar Heggen
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
week 24 the RTL Group intranet Newsletter Finance Meeting 2007 Interview with Elmar Heggen News Germany RTL Television extends its contract for Domino Day Teamworx to film the hijacking of the People Landshut Germany Belgium Birgit Hönsch appointed new Keen interest in RTL TVI's election head of RTL Enterprises coverage North America FremantleMedia and @radical.media form alliance for the distribution of content week 24 the RTL Group intranet “Reinforcing close cooperation and fostering common understanding between the various Finance teams” On 4 and 5 June, 100 finance executives from RTL Group companies and the Corporate Centre met in Mondorf-les-Bains (Luxembourg) for the RTL Group Finance Meeting. In an interview with Backstage, Elmar Heggen, Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and Head of Corporate Centre, explains why the meeting was not only about figures and financial guidelines, but also about networking and team spirit. Luxembourg - 07.06.2007 100 RTL Group finance executives Elmar, you were appointed the new CFO of pick up the phone or send an e-mail to collea- RTL Group last September. Was one of your gues operating outside of their profit centre, first decisions to hold a RTL Group Finance and feel comfortable doing so. So in a fun way Meeting? the conference also concentrated on making Yes. It's been several years since RTL Group's sure that our executives met new faces and last Finance Meeting, and since then the Group established new contacts. The first day of our has changed significantly. My overriding priori- meeting ended with a team-building event in ty for this meeting was to reinforce the close which all 100 executives came together to co-operation and common understanding bet- create a giant samba percussion band. In less ween the various Finance teams throughout the than two hours, professional percussionists Group. managed to teach the different groups the basics for each instrument and blend them into Why do you think this is important? an explosive samba performance. The respon- At RTL Group, we all operate in a decentralised se to this exercise was very positive. environment, often physically far apart from each other. If the Group is to continue to thrive What was on the agenda of the meeting? by developing new synergies and enhancing We had a mix of presentations by our profit existing ones, our executives need to be able to centres and Corporate Centre, covering a 1 week 24 the RTL Group intranet variety of finance issues. For example, Schiltz briefly addressed the participants befo- Alexander Glatz, the head of RTL Group's re lunch. We also invited two external speakers Controlling and Investments department, pre- to challenge us and provoke a debate about the sented the planned improvements for our future of broadcasting. monthly management report, one of our key reporting instruments. In future, the manage- Here's our last question: How about RTL ment report will become a tool used by top Group's new intranet Backstage? Do you management, on the one hand to monitor the like it? If so, what's your favourite feature of performance of local operations, and on the the new site? other hand to gain a more aggregated, compre- The new Backstage is outstanding! I really like hensive overview of the Group's figures. Jean- the many new tools and services it offers, espe- Marie Bourhis, deputy CFO responsible for cially Backstage Messenger, which is already consolidation accounting, transactions and very keenly used by many members of my reporting systems, gave an overview of the department. They find the Messenger a quick expected changes in accounting rules. As M6 is and easy way to communicate. I'm confident clearly a leader in the domain of diversification, that people will even use it internationally, its deputy CFO, Jean-Marc Duplaix, reported throughout the Group, to keep in touch. And as on the financial challenges arising from mana- I said before, that's very positive and important. ging diversification businesses, taking as his example the busi- ness particularities associated with his group's running of the football club Girondins de Bordeaux. I'm convinced that this kind of information-sharing across the Group's various pro- fit centres is essential and benefits the whole Group. So the presentations were all about financial issues? Gerhard Zeiler Elmar Heggen Not at all. Our CEO, Gerhard Zeiler, gave an update on RTL Group's corporate strategy, and Luxembourg Minister for Communications Jean-Louis visit Jean-Louis Schiltz, Luxembourg Minister of Communications <backstage> to discover the photo gallery 2 week 24 the RTL Group intranet Keen interest in RTL TVI's election coverage Viewers were attracted in their droves to RTL TVI programmes reporting on the general elec- tion in Belgium, giving the channel very high ratings. Belgium - 13.06.2007 On 10 June 2007, a new parliament was elec- The special editions of the news programme Le ted in Belgium. RTL TVI covered the event in Journal broadcast at 13.00 and 19.00 on the several special programmes, and the way that day of the election scored impressive market viewers responded proved once again that for shares of 42.5 per cent and 35.4 per cent res- most Belgian viewers RTL TVI is their preferred pectively. source of news and information, both in its pre- election and special election-day coverage. In the run-up to the election, RTL TVI's biggest success was the programme Face aux Belges Between 18.30 and 22.30, a total of 335,275 (Facing the Belgians), shown on 8 June. In that viewers (a market share of 22 per cent) tuned in programme, Elio di Rupo, the head of the to RTL TVI's election specials, beating the French-speaking Socialist Party (PS) and ratings achieved by its rival and public broad- Minister-President of Wallonia, spontaneously caster RTBF and making RTL TVI the clear mar- answered questions put by the public. That ket leader during this timeframe. programme gained the channel a market share of over 25.8 per cent. RTL editorial staff “Fédérales 2007” 3 week 24 the RTL Group intranet Teamworx to film the hijacking of the Landshut Many years of research by the famous docu- mentary filmmaker Maurice Philip Remy, who unearthed spectacular new findings about the hostage drama on board the Lufthansa passen- ger aircraft Landshut, have borne fruit in the shape of the script to the TV film Mogadishu Welcome. Nico Hofmann Germany - 12.06.2007 Mogadishu airport in Somalia was the setting for one of the most spectacular hostage rescues of all time. On 18 October 1977, 30 men from Germany's legendary GSG 9 antiterrorism unit stormed the Landshut. Mogadishu Welcome will be a highly emotional reconstruction of the nightmare experienced by the 86 innocent passengers on board the hijacked aircraft. The film will trace the aircraft's odyssey from its start in Majorca to Rome, Cyprus, Bahrain, Dubai, Aden and the dramatic showdown in Mogadishu. The film provides a realistic portrayal of interna- tional terrorism, with good winning emerging vic- torious for once. It will delve into the true events behind the hijacking for the first time. The producers of Mogadishu Welcome will be Gabriela Sperl, Nico Hofmann, Jürgen Schuster and Christian Rohde; the responsible editors will be Hans-Wolfgang Jurgan, Carl Bergengruen and Manfred Hattendorf; the director will be Roland Suso Richter and the cinematographer Holly Fink. The shooting of the 90-minute TV film will proba- bly begin in September 2007. The film's release will be accompanied by the publication of a book and also a documentary by Maurice Philipe Remy. The film will be produced by Teamworx, acting on behalf of ARD Degeto and SWR. 4 week 24 the RTL Group intranet RTL Television extends its contract for Domino Day Domino Day will continue to be shown on RTL Group channels over the next few years, after acquiring exclusive rights to the programme in an all-inclusive package for the Group's entire family of channels (except in the Netherlands). Germany - 11.06.2007 Jörg Graf, Head of RTL's Business Affairs RTL Head of Entertainment Tom Sänger said: Department, who led the negotiations, said: "I'm really happy that we'll be continuing to "I'm delighted we succeeded in acquiring work with Endemol and the creative mind exclusive rights to Domino Day for all RTL behind Domino Day, Robin Weijers. Domino Group's channels. In addition to the TV rights, Day is definitely one of the top brands among for the first time ever we also pre-negotiated RTL's event programmes and its success over the production packages for the channels many years proves viewers' strong interest in involved". this unique record show". Over the past few years, the major event show, The next Domino Day will be broadcast on RTL in which domino world records are regularly Television in Germany in November, as in pre- set, has attained an average market share of vious years. Jörg Graf ([email protected]) is at over 30% in the target group of 14 to 49-year- the disposal of all RTL Group partners as the olds for RTL Television in Germany. person to contact in connection with the acqui- sition of TV rights. Domino Day is also a great success for RTL Group’s channels in Belgium, Hungary, Croatia, Russia and the UK. The last show in November 2006 com- manded for example a market share of 22.1 per cent on RTL TVI (target group: 18-54-year-olds), 39.1 per cent on RTL Klub (target group: 18-49-year-olds) and 45.8 per cent on RTL Televizija in Croatia (target group: 18-49-year-olds).