The new structure sounds plausible, but it could be explosive, too. Both you and two of the three powerful content managers come from ProSieben – isn’t that humiliating for Sat 1?

I got exactly the people I wanted, the people I thought would do the best job. I am certain that all three of them are well-liked at all of the stations. My focus is on bringing the entire German broadcasting group forward within an organization that works using modern methods. We want to achieve the goal that eluded our German national soccer team: we want to become European champions, the European champions of television. One of the advantages we have over the RTL Group is that we have two large broadcasters in the Premier League. That’s an enormous asset for both production and marketing.

And this is why Sat 1 can’t be sold to Premiere?

Sat 1 will not be sold. That makes absolutely no sense. I can understand that this idea is appealing to Premiere CEO Michael Börnicke, and that Premiere needed the headlines – and it worked like a charm. But he didn’t cause any commotion on our end.

How do you interpret your own role? Are you more of a moderator who sets the goals, or will you get involved in day-to-day operations also?

I ran a station myself for seven years, and I can’t just abandon all that. So I’ll do both: I’ll coordinate things and look at the big picture, and handle operations as well. I know from experience that you have to maintain a certain autonomy as the head of a channel. I wanted strong people in those positions, and I got them.

Along with a lot of negative headlines, there were some positive reports about your company as well. Sat 1 seems to have ridden out the storm.

Sat 1 has emerged from crisis and is the victor for the first half of 2008. We have new, promising series like the Telenovela “Anna und die Liebe” on our roster, and we will continue to go on the attack. With our smash hit “Verliebt in Berlin,” which garnered market share of up to 30 percent, we saw what Sat 1 was capable of. A monster hit like that can help an entire channel take off. The past shows very clearly the kind of potential Sat 1 has: it was often the trendsetter for spectacular television. Think of Harald Schmidt, the soccer show “Ran,” special event television like “Das Wunder von Lengede,” or series like “Bergdoktor” and “Anna Maria.” Sat 1 is a giant, and it has just awakened from its slumber.

Sat 1 used to be the trendsetter, but more recently, Pro Sieben was the one to watch with shows like “Schlag den Raab” and “Germany’s Next Top Model.”

We live in a very cyclical society. When I started at ProSieben, people couldn’t care less about what we were up to. Everyone was wild about Sat 1, though, and shows like “Schillerstrasse,” “Genial daneben,” and “Verliebt in Berlin” were state-of-the-art then. Today, ProSieben plays this role, even though RTL is still stronger overall. But, with all due respect to my colleagues, the name of the innovative leader in the German free TV market right now is ProSieben.
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