ProSiebenSat.1 shuffles Executive Board
March 18, 2024
The Supervisory Board of ProSiebenSat.1 Media has appointed Markus Breitenecker, currently CEO of ProSiebenSat.1 PULS4, to the Group Executive Board as of April 1st. Together with CEO Bert Habets, Breitenecker will take over the management of the strategically important Entertainment segment as Chief Operating Officer. His focus will be on the areas of streaming and digital platforms. He will also be responsible for country activities in Switzerland and Austria.
Andreas Wiele, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of ProSiebenSat.1 Media SE, commented: “Markus Breitenecker is a proven TV and streaming expert and has been extremely successful in the company for 25 years. He built up the broadcasting group in Austria and most recently developed Joyn Austria into the market leader within just one year. Under the leadership of Bert Habets, the two will now work together to implement the successfully introduced entertainment strategy even more consistently and quickly.”
Breitenecker commented: “I would like to thank the Supervisory Board for its trust. Streaming – and Joyn in particular – is at the heart of our entertainment business. I look forward to working more closely with Bert Habets and to further expanding Joyn with this great team and developing it into one of the leading streaming players in the DACH region.”
Habets added: “I know and appreciate Markus Breitenecker as a very committed and experienced media manager with a passion for entertainment. I look forward to driving and developing the business together with him.”
The Austrian media manager Breitenecker has been CEO of the ProSiebenSat.1 Group in Austria since 1998. During this time, he developed ProSiebenSat.1 PULS4 into the largest private television group and Joyn into the country’s largest streaming service. Under his responsibility, a family of channels was created alongside ProSieben Austria, including PULS 4, ATV, ATV2 and its own news channel PULS 24. In 2017, Breitenecker founded the streaming platform Zappn in Austria and integrated it into the super streamer Joyn in 2023.
After more than five years with the company, Christine Scheffler has asked the Supervisory Board to terminate her contract as of March 31st, due to differing positions on the next steps in the company’s set-up.
Wiele said: “With Christine Scheffler, we are losing a very experienced transformer and a valued colleague on the Executive Board. We would like to thank Christine Scheffler for her highly professional HR work, her innovative spirit, and her passion for our approximately 7,000 employees worldwide. On behalf of the entire Supervisory Board, we wish her all the best for the future and continued success.”
Scheffler commented: “ProSiebenSat.1 stands for dynamism and change. Thanks to a great team, we have successfully implemented essential projects together over the last few years and thus made an important contribution to the modernisation and realignment of this great Group. Last year, we set the course for ProSiebenSat.1’s next development steps with an extensive transformation and personnel restructuring program. I would like to thank my colleagues for the intensive and eventful years together.”
Habets said: “I regret Christine Scheffler’s decision but I am grateful for the pleasant and cooperative collaboration over the past two years. It has been an intense journey and I thank her for her support and for her contribution to the transformation of the Group. I wish her, on behalf of the Executive Board, all the best for her future.”
In the future, the Executive Board of ProSiebenSat.1 Media SE will consist of Habets (CEO), Martin Mildner (CFO) and Breitenecker (COO). The Leadership Team of Seven.One Entertainment Group (Entertainment segment) will in future consist of Habets (CEO), Breitenecker (COO), Henrik Pabst (CCO) and Dr Stefan Endriß (CFO).