Romania, the Netherlands, the U.K., and now Germany. Daniela Matei has already worked in many different countries of Europe.

Daniela Matei knows the international TV market better than anyone. She tracks down new TV concepts and takes care of international TV productions for the ProSiebenSat.1 Group. For six years the multilingual 41-year-old native of Romania worked at SBS. Then in the summer of 2007 the ProSiebenSat.1 Group called her in to work at headquarters in Munich. Daniela Matei is one of about 3,000 new employees at the ProSiebenSat.1 Group. The takeover of the former SBS Broadcasting Group did more than double the company’s workforce. The media group gained culturally, as well — because along with a large number of European locations, European careers like Daniela Matei’s are becoming routine at the new media corporation.

Television for Europe

Could a Belgian idea for a show, or an German documentary concept, work on other ProSiebenSat.1 Group stations? That’s where Daniela Matei’s expertise comes in. She works with the heads of the Group’s European stations to develop multinational TV productions. “There’s already a lot of exchange among stations. We want to do even more,” she explains. That wasn’t always the case. “When I came to SBS, the Scandinavian stations in particular didn’t work together at all. Now we have pan-Scandinavian productions like ‘So You Think You Can Dance’ and ‘Hitmakers,’” she says. When she joined the ProSiebenSat.1 Group, her duties expanded to include three additional TV markets — Germany, Austria and Switzerland. This connoisseur of the European TV landscape finds the German-language market a challenge, but hardly a mystery. “Certainly there are national differences in TV watching, and thus in scheduling. But one thing is clear — everybody likes watching a great film or an entertaining series. A good story sells in any country.”

Reunion with old acquaintances

The new Munich resident had no trouble with moving to the city on the Isar. “I’ve already lived in Bucharest, Amsterdam and London, and I get oriented in new places fast.” The merger between ProSiebenSat.1 and SBS was a lucky break. “I thought from the start that ProSiebenSat.1 and SBS would make a fantastic team.” And there was a direct personal benefit for her as well. She already knew the people she would be working with

at the ProSiebenSat.1 Group. She had been seeing them for years at international industry gettogethers like the MIPCOM television trade show in Cannes. Today, she sees her German colleagues more often — daily, in fact. She enjoys her new job in the Munich suburb of Unterföhring. “At SBS headquarters in Amsterdam, there were always just a few people around, because everybody was on the road all the time,” she recalls. “But in Munich I have the feeling — for the first time — that I have someplace with permanent contacts.” Culturally, too, Daniela is enthusiastic about a number of particularly German characteristics. “Everything’s so organized here — and the Germans are crazy about their BlackBerries! It’s unbelievable how fast you get an answer to e-mails here. That was really different in Romania and Holland.”