January
- ProSiebenSat.1 Games signs an exclusive agreement with Sony
Online Entertainment (SOE) for exclusive pan-European licenses to
eight online games. A long-standing strategic partnership with this
U.S. game development studio has positioned ProSiebenSat.1 Games as
one of the largest games publishers in Europe. The company aims to
be one of the Top 3 European players.
- The ProSiebenSat.1 Group founds its own creative agency,
SugarRay. In addition to implementing audiovisual communication
solutions, the new subsidiary will be a full-service provider,
specializing in brand communication, broadcast design, new media,
and on-air promotion. It is primarily targeting new clients who
have no previous agency affiliation.
- In Norway, a new station is launched in January. VOX is aimed
at viewers above age 30, with programming that includes classics,
series, comedies and movies.
January
- A new station, PRO4, goes on the air in Hungary on January 3.
The channel targets men age 18 to 49, and offers TV series, films,
animated series, and popular in-house productions. Joining MAX in
Norway and 6'eren in Denmark, PRO4 is the ProSiebenSat.1 Group's
third station aimed primarily at men.
- The ProSiebenSat.1 Group acquires all of video-on-demand portal
maxdome in January. Formerly, 1&1 Internet AG owned 50 percent
of the platform, which offers TV, film and music highlights and is
Germany's largest online video library.
- The Red Arrow Entertainment Group founds a new holding company
in London, Red Arrow Entertainment Ltd. Objectives include a
number of strategic investments in local production companies that
show great potential for growth.
March
- SevenOne International opens a Los Angeles office. The company
intends to produce more of its own English-language content, and to
gain a foothold in major markets like the USA and the UK.
April
- The Red Arrow Entertainment Group continues its expansion in
English-language TV markets, acquiring 51 percent of British film
production company The Mob Film Holdings Ltd.
June
- The ProSiebenSat.1 Group acquires burda:ic, one of Europe's
leading games providers. At the same time, the Group acquires a 51
percent interest in Covus Games, the operator of the games platform
browsergames.de.
July
- Götz Mäuser, a Partner at Permira Beteiligungsberatung GmbH, is
elected Chairman of the ProSiebenSat.1 Supervisory Board at the
annual shareholders' meeting on July 1. He succeeds Johannes Huth,
who becomes Vice-Chairman. Huth is a Partner and Head of Europe at
Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. Ltd.
- ProSiebenSat.1 Group stations are available for the first time
in HD via Kabel Deutschland's cable network. Additional contracts
follow, with Kabel BW in August and Unity Media in October. They
ensure that the free TV stations will be available for the long
term in SD and HD, along with the pay TV stations. Analog cable
distribution adds technical reach for sixx especially.
- The sale of TV operations in the Netherlands to an
international bidder consortium is completed on July 29.
ProSiebenSat.1 had already shed its Belgian holdings in June. The
ProSiebenSat.1 Group announced in April that it would sell its TV
operations in Belgium and its TV and print operations in the
Netherlands.
August
- The ProSiebenSat.1 Group closes down call TV channel 9Live for
good in August. Live operations had already ceased on May 31. The
cause was a sustained decrease in revenues at the transaction TV
channel.
September
- The ProSiebenSat.1 Group had announced in July that it would
found an Advisory Board, chaired by Dr. Edmund Stoiber, to advise
the company on matters of social and media policy, and on ethical
issues. In September the Group announces the appointment of seven
more members from research, ecology and sustainability, youth and
social matters, the arts, and culture and sports.
October
- Conrad Albert (43) and Dr. Christian Wegner (37) are appointed
to the Executive Board as of October 1. Albert holds the new
Executive Board-level position for Legal, Distribution &
Regulatory Affairs. Wegner is in charge of New Media &
Diversification.
- The Red Arrow Entertainment Group acquires a majority
interest in U.S. production company Fuse. Productions like "The
Killing" and "Burn Notice" have made Fuse one of the country's
leading producers of fiction programming.
- At the Capital Markets Day on October 5, the ProSiebenSat.1
Group presents analysts with its growth strategy for the next few
years. The Group foresees additional revenue potential of EUR 750
million by 2015. By that time, the Group expects to be generating
50 percent of its German revenues outside the classic TV
advertising market.
November
- The Advisory Board of the ProSiebenSat.1 Group, chaired by
Dr. Edmund Stoiber, convenes for its first meeting on November
1. At the board's suggestion, the ProSiebenSat.1 Executive Board
initiates a pilot project to develop new forms and formats for
communicating complex economic and political matters to young
people. The project is initially budgeted at EUR 500,000.
