• – New Management Board sends clear signal to combine the two companies quickly and efficiently
• – Stephan Schmitter to be Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the combined company
  
• – From Sky Deutschland (DACH), Elke Walthelm will join RTL Deutschland’s Management Board as Chief Human Resources Officer, and Michael Radelsberger as Chief Consumer Officer
  
• – Julia Kloke is moving from Bertelsmann subsidiary Riverty to RTL Deutschland as Chief Financial Officer (CFO)
  
• – Ingrid Heisserer and Carsten Schwecke are leaving RTL Deutschland on the best of terms

Luxembourg/Cologne, 24 April 2026 – Following the European Commission’s announcement that it has unconditionally approved RTL Group’s acquisition of Sky Deutschland (DACH), RTL Group today announced changes to the Management Board of RTL Deutschland. The newly formed management team will comprise representatives from both companies.

As previously announced at the end of June 2025 with the planned acquisition of Sky Deutschland, Stephan Schmitter (51) will lead the company as CEO.

Upon closing of the transaction, which is expected on 1 June 2026, Elke Walthelm and Michael Radelsberger of Sky Deutschland will be appointed to the Management Board of RTL Deutschland: Elke Walthelm (49), currently Chief Operating Officer of Sky Deutschland, will take on the role of Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) at RTL Deutschland, heading the People & Culture department and thus playing a central role in the integration of the two companies. Michael Radelsberger (42), currently Managing Director of Sky Austria and Sky Media, will assume the role of Chief Consumer Officer, taking responsibility for the pay business, with around 12.3 million paying subscribers across RTL+, Sky and WOW.

Julia Kloke (46), currently CFO at Bertelsmann’s financial services provider Riverty, will become the new CFO of RTL Deutschland with effect from 1 May 2026.

Ingrid Heisserer, currently CFO and CHRO of RTL Deutschland, and Carsten Schwecke, currently Chief Commercial, Tech & Data Officer of RTL Deutschland, will leave the company on the best of terms.

Frank Vogel, Managing Director of RTL Deutschland’s advertising sales house, Ad Alliance, will report directly to CEO Stephan Schmitter going forward.

Andreas Fischer, Inga Leschek and Max Orgonyi will remain on the Management Board of RTL Deutschland, which will be composed as follows:

• – Stephan Schmitter, Chief Executive Officer
• – Andreas Fischer, Chief Operating Officer
• – Julia Kloke, Chief Financial Officer
• – Inga Leschek, Chief Content Officer
• – Max Orgonyi, Chief Transformation & AI Officer
• – Michael Radelsberger, Chief Consumer Officer
• – Elke Walthelm, Chief Human Resources Officer
  
  

Statements

Thomas Rabe, CEO of RTL Group, says: “The combination of RTL and Sky creates a unique offering for entertainment, sport and news across free-to-air TV, pay-TV and streaming. We will gradually combine Sky and RTL and realise annual synergies of around €250 million within three years. Our aim is to bring together the best talent, content and processes from both companies.”

Thomas Rabe continues: “I am delighted to appoint Elke Walthelm, Julia Kloke and Michael Radelsberger – experienced and versatile executives – to the Management Board of RTL Deutschland. Under the leadership of Stephan Schmitter, they will drive forward the integration and further transformation of the company. I wish the new management team every success in this important and challenging task. At the same time, I would like to express my sincere thanks to Ingrid Heisserer and Carsten Schwecke for their successful work and dedication – and wish them all the best for the future.”

Stephan Schmitter, CEO of RTL Deutschland, says: “The composition of the new Management Board underlines our clear focus on consistently aligning the joint organisation with the future of television – particularly the streaming business. In doing so, we are placing our high-quality, local content and the interests of our audience at the heart of our strategy. I am very much looking forward to tackling the major challenges in the market and further strengthening our position together with this strong, versatile management team and our employees. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Ingrid Heisserer and Carsten Schwecke for our excellent cooperation and their commitment to RTL Deutschland and the combination with Sky Deutschland.”

Biographies

Julia Kloke joined Bertelsmann’s Arvato division in 2002, where she held various roles in finance until she moved to Bertelsmann’s Corporate Centre in 2016, most recently as Senior Vice President (SVP) of Divisional Management Reporting within Corporate Financial Reporting. On 1 January 2023, she took on the role of CFO at Riverty, Bertelsmann’s fintech company.

Michael Radelsberger has been with Sky Deutschland since 2012 and has held various positions in Corporate Finance and Business Development in Germany, as well as in the Commercial unit in Austria. He has been Managing Director of Sky Austria since 2022 and, in July 2024, also assumed responsibility for all areas of advertising sales at Sky Deutschland as Managing Director of Sky Media.

Elke Walthelm has been with Sky Deutschland since 2005. After holding various management positions, she became Executive Vice President Content in February 2016. In 2020, she was appointed to the company’s Management Board and also took on the role of Managing Director of NBC Universal Global Networks Germany. Since October 2023, Elke Walthelm has been Chief Operating Officer of Sky Deutschland, responsible for programming, technology, content operations and human resources.

RTL Group is a leading entertainment company across broadcast, streaming, content and digital, with interests in 52 television channels, six streaming services and 40 radio stations. The Group’s families of TV channels are either number one or number two in five European countries, while RTL Group owns or has interests in radio stations in France, Germany, Spain and Luxembourg. RTL Deutschland is the Group’s largest business unit and Germany’s leading entertainment company, operating across TV, streaming, radio, digital and publishing. RTL Group’s streaming services include RTL+ in Germany and Hungary, and M6+ in France. Fremantle is one of the world’s largest creators, producers and distributors of scripted and unscripted content, and is responsible for more than 11,000 hours of programming per year, alongside an international network of teams operating in 28 countries. The streaming tech company Bedrock, the ad-tech company Smartclip and the social media company We Are Era are also owned by RTL Group. As a market leader, RTL Group strives to foster alliances and partnerships within the European media industry, for example by building a one-stop advertising sales house in Germany with Ad Alliance and driving international advertising sales with RTL AdAlliance. Bertelsmann is the majority shareholder of RTL Group, which is listed on the Luxembourg and Frankfurt stock exchanges and in the MDAX stock index.

RTL Deutschland is Germany's leading entertainment company, spanning across all types of media: TV and streaming, print and digital, radio and podcasts. It is home to some of the country's strongest media brands, from RTL to Stern, Schöner Wohnen to Vox and Geo to NTV, and operates Germany’s largest streaming service RTL+, with more than 7 million subscribers and a cross-media offer including series, films, music, podcasts and audiobooks. RTL Deutschland owns 15 TV channels, premium magazines, a broad podcast portfolio and numerous digital offerings.