ProSieben

Logo of ProSieben

ProSieben begins broadcasting from Munich on 1 January 1989, initially as "Pro 7", with nine hours of programming daily. It emerges from the station Eureka TV, which has a mixture of information and teleshopping in its programme. However, this concept does not catch on with viewers. Operator Gerhard Ackermans therefore seeks and finds new co-partners for Eureka Television GmbH, which was founded in 1986: Thomas Kirch, the son of Leo Kirch, acquires 49 percent of Eureka TV on 13 October 1988. Dr Georg Kofler from South Tyrol becomes the founding managing director of the new ProSieben Television GmbH. ProSieben employs 70 people at the start and can be received by 2.44 million cable households. Thomas Kirch soon takes over the station completely.
The station's reach is expanded with the activation of the DFS-Kopernikus satellite. Broadcasting time is gradually increased to 17 hours a day. ProSieben also receives the first terrestrial frequency for a private station in Munich. In 1989, the station is switched to the Astra 1A satellite; the station can now be received throughout Western and Central Europe with little technical effort. The presence of attractive private programmes contributes significantly to the commercial success of the Astra satellites. In addition to reception via cable TV, direct satellite reception represents an attractive increase in programme diversity. In the new federal states in particular, direct satellite reception quickly becomes one of the strongest pillars of programme distribution. In 1990, ProSieben becomes the first German channel to broadcast round the clock. Like its sister station Sat.1, ProSieben revolutionises the German television market with innovative formats and programmes. Alongside Sat.1, ProSieben establishes itself as one of the leading entertainment providers. In 1992, the MGM Media Group Munich (today: SevenOne Media) is founded, which from then on is responsible for the marketing of advertising time for the ProSieben family of stations. The growth and consolidation of the station landscape leads to the founding of ProSieben Media AG in 1995. The merger of the two companies in 2000 creates ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG.
"We Love To Entertain You" has been the station's slogan since 2003. Today, ProSieben broadcasts a full 24-hour television programme every day, primarily from its studios in Unterföhring near Munich. In addition to broadcasting classic feature films, the station focuses on infotainment formats and series. The programme also includes information and news programmes.

Key Facts

Audience Share3.15%
Ownership TypePrivate
Geographic CoverageNational
Content TypeFree
Active Transparency
company/channel informs proactively and comprehensively about its ownership, data is constantly updated and easily verifiable

Ownership

Ownership StructureSeven.One Entertainment Group GmbH, which operates the ProSieben channel, is wholly owned by ProSiebenSat.1 Media SE. The ProSiebenSat.1 shares are held by institutional investors in the Netherlands, the USA, Germany and France as well as private investors. As of the reporting date on 31 December 2023, according to the company's annual financial statements, these included: the French international banking and financial services company BNP PARIBAS SA with 9.69%, the US investment company BlackRock with 3.83% and the US financial services company JPMorgan Chase with 4.96%. A total of 59.12 per cent of the shares are in free float. ProSiebenSat.1 Media also holds 2.70 per cent of the shares. However, the latter shares do not carry voting or dividend rights. Via the media holding company MediaForEurope (MFE), the family of former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi holds 29.79 per cent of the company and is the largest single shareholder, according to its own information. ProSiebenSat.1 Media states its stake as "only" 26.58%. As it only owns around half of the shares in the media holding company MediaForEurope (MFE), the Berlusconi family's stake in ProSiebenSat.1 Media is stated here as 13.3 per cent. Renáta Kellnerová, considered the richest woman in the Czech Republic, is the Group's second-largest single shareholder with 11.6 per cent via her holding company PPF.
Voting RightsVoting rights are exercised on the basis of German stock corporation law. There are shares with voting and dividend rights and shares without voting and dividend rights. Under the German Securities Trading Act (WpHG), holders of ProSiebenSat.1 Media common stock are required to notify ProSiebenSat.1 Media and the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) if their share of voting rights changes in relation to certain thresholds (3%, 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, 25%, 30%, 50% or 75% of voting rights). ProSiebenSat.1 Media is obliged to publish the voting rights notifications in accordance with Section 40 (1) of the German Securities Trading Act (WpHG). The voting rights notifications are published via DGAP (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Ad-hoc-Publizität mbH). In addition, ProSiebenSat.1 Media publishes the voting rights notifications here for the current and previous financial year in the respective annual reports.
Individual Owner
Group / Individual Owner
  • Treasury stock

    ProSiebenSat.1 Media holds 2.70% of the shares. However, these shares do not carry voting or dividend rights.
    2.7
  • Renáta Kellernová

    In February 2023, Renáta Kellnerová acquired a direct stake of 9.01% (including 9.1% in financial instruments) in ProSiebenSat.1 Media, making her the second-largest shareholder in the media company. She currently holds 11.5 per cent of the shares via her holding company PPF. She is the widow of the Czech billionaire and entrepreneur Petr Kellner and founder of the PPF Group, who died in a helicopter crash in March 2021. According to its own information, the PPF Group operates several television and online media companies in Central and South Eastern Europe, such as Central European Media with a large number of television channels. It sees itself as an active investor in the telecommunications, media and technology sectors. Kellnerová is considered the richest woman in the Czech Republic.
    11.5
  • Free float

    Some of the ProSiebenSat.1 shares are held by institutional investors in the Netherlands, the USA, Germany and France. As of the reporting date on 31 December 2023, these included the French international banking and financial services company BNP PARIBAS SA with 9.69%, the US investment company BlackRock with 3.83% and the US financial services company JPMorgan Chase with 4.96%, according to the company's annual financial statements. A total of 59.12 per cent of the shares are in free float.
    59.1

Media Companies / Groups

Facts

Founding Year1989
Founder
  • Gerhard Ackermans
    founded the Selgros wholesale centre with his brother-in-law Eugen Viehof in 1962, which later became the Allkauf department stores. At the end of the 1980s, he became involved in the media sector. He initially bought several radio stations and the film rights exploiter Medimedia GmbH. Later, he wanted to found a private broadcaster that would be financed exclusively by advertising revenue. He was thus a pioneer of teleshopping in Germany. In 1986, he founded Eureka TV, which later became ProSieben Television GmbH. When it was founded, he held 51% of the station, the remaining 49% belonged to Thomas Kirch. Ackermans was a member of the Catholic student fraternity KDStV Ascania Bonn in the CV. He was chairman of the Aldekerk gymnastics club from 1950 to 2002. As part of his 70th anniversary celebrations, he was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit medal on 25 March 1977. Gerhard Ackermans died widowed, leaving behind four daughters. The sculptor and art collector Heinz Ackermans is his son-in-law.
  • Thomas Kirch
    is the son of film rights dealer Leo Kirch and Ruth Weigands. His academic career took him to Boston, where he studied computer science and economics. In 1988, Thomas Kirch acquired a 49% stake in the private television provider Eureka TV, which went on air as a full programme in 1989 under the new name Pro 7. In 1997, he became the majority shareholder of ProSieben Media AG with a 58.4 % stake, which included the television programmes Pro 7 and Kabel 1. He also held stakes in the metropolitan area stations TV München and TV Berlin, the shopping channel H.O.T. and the Berlin radio station 100.6. At the end of 1999, Thomas Kirch contributed his shares in ProSieben Media AG to his father's KirchMedia GmbH & Co. KGaA, which thus became the majority shareholder in both Sat.1 and the ProSieben Group. Thomas Kirch himself held a 6.54 per cent stake in KirchMedia, which filed for insolvency in April 2002 and was eventually broken up.
CEO
  • Hannes Hiller
    has been Head of Broadcasting at ProSieben since 2023. He began his career there in 1998 and initially worked in the Talk department. From 2001, he worked in the entertainment department, where he was involved as an editor in various formats, including Headnut.tv, Die Sketch Show, Die Alm and Survivor. He later took over responsibility for programmes such as Kalkofes Mattscheibe and Singing Bee. In 2008, he was promoted to Head of Comedy & Format Development in the Entertainment division and in 2010 to Vice President Comedy & Sitcom for ProSieben and Sat.1. In 2016, Hiller became Vice President Entertainment for ProSieben and two years later Senior Vice President Content Strategy & Development. Since 2021, he has also been responsible for the Seven.One Entertainment Group's Sat.1 channel in this position. After Daniel Rosemann stepped down as Channel Head of ProSieben and Sat.1, Hiller succeeded him as Channel Head of ProSieben in November 2023. Hiller is now responsible for the station's strategic direction and programming. In February 2024, "Wer isses?", the first major new TV show on ProSieben, was launched under his leadership. In 2023, Hiller was part of the jury for the Just Another Award! which honours digital-first productions.
  • Bert Habets
    is a member of the Executive Board of ProSiebenSat.1 and Chairman of the Management Board of Seven.One Entertainment Group and Managing Director of Sat.1. He holds a Master's degree in Economics and Law (Tax Law) from Maastricht University. He began his career in 1996 at NIBC Bank in The Hague. In 1999, Habets moved to CLT-UFA, which later became the RTL Group. There he initially worked as a project manager in business development before being promoted to Vice President Controlling in 2000. In 2001, Habets returned to the Netherlands to take up the position of CFO of the Dutch media group, which was later renamed RTL Nederland. In February 2008, Habets became CEO of RTL Nederland. In 2017, Habets became Co-CEO of RTL Group to lead the company together with Guillaume de Posch. In 2019, Habets stepped down from his position for personal reasons. Bert Habets has been Chairman of the Executive Board of ProSiebenSat.1 Media SE since November 2022. He moved to ProSiebenSat.1 from the European media company Antenna Group, where he was CEO from November 2021 to August 2022.
  • Dr Stefan Endriß
    is CFO of ProSiebenSat.1 and a member of the Executive Board of Seven.One Entertainment Group and also Managing Director of ProSieben. In this position, he is responsible for all finance and controlling areas of the Seven.One Entertainment Group and its subsidiaries. Endriß previously worked in various positions at the Otto Group and as CFO of A.W. Niemeyer GmbH, a retailer of sailing and water sports equipment.
  • Henrik Pabst
    is CCO of ProSiebenSat.1 and a member of the management board of the Seven.One Entertainment Group and Managing Director of ProSieben. He is also a member of the Advisory Board of Seven.One Studios. Before joining Seven.One Entertainment in 2019, he worked at Red Arrow Studios for seven years, mainly as President of Red Arrow Studios International. Other professional positions include Vice President of Entertainment and Business Development for the German, Austrian, Swiss and Benelux markets at IMG Media. Pabst studied law in Kiel and worked as a production assistant for two years. He was then a producer at Tonix Pictures and became self-employed in 2003.
  • Markus Breitenecker
    born 1968 in Austria, has been a member of the Executive Board of ProSiebenSat.1 Media since 1 April 2024 and acts as COO. In this role, he is responsible for Strategy, M&A, Marketing, IT & AI, Regulatory Affairs and Sustainability. He is also responsible for the Seven.One Entertainment Group and Streaming, Platforms & Growth at Joyn. Breitenecker studied law at the University of Vienna in 1992. In 1996 he became CEO of 'The Weather Channel' in Düsseldorf and in 1997 Head of Sales and Public Media Policy at Kabel Eins in Munich. In 1998, he founded ProSieben Austria and has been CEO of ProSiebenSat.1 PULS 4 Austria ever since. In this role, he introduced the editorial programme window AustriaNews and Café PULS in 2004 and launched Austria's largest private television station, PULS 4, in 2008. In 2014, he initiated the prime-time show "2 Minuten 2 Millionen - Die PULS 4 Start-up-Show" and 7Ventures Austria. In 2016, he founded the international digital festival "4GAMECHANGERS". In 2017, he acquired the Austrian TV broadcasting group ATV and turned ProSiebenSat.1 PULS 4 into the leading TV group in Austria. He also launched the live TV streaming product "ZAPPN" in 2017 and published the book "Change the Game" in 2018. In 2019, he launched the 24/7 live news channel "PULS 24" and in 2023 Austria's streaming service JOYN.
Editor-In-Chief
  • Stefan Vaupel
    is editor-in-chief at ProSieben.
  • Sven Pietsch
    is Chairman of the Editorial Board at ProSiebenSat.1.
  • Arne Teetz
    has been head of the new central newsroom at Seven.One Entertainment Group, which produces news for ProSieben, Sat.1 and Kabel Eins, since April 2022. Previously, Teetz was Editor-in-Chief of TV & Moving Picture at Welt and Editor-in-Chief of N24, a news channel owned by Axel Springer, for a total of eleven years. N24 and later Welt supplied ProSieben, Sat.1 and Kabel Eins with news. Under his leadership, the newsroom of the Seven.One Entertainment Group has taken over the production of all news itself from January 2023. The team consists of 60 members and produces all of the Group's news formats at its headquarters in Unterföhring. Teetz began his journalistic career with a traineeship at Sat.1, where he later also worked as a foreign correspondent.
ContactSeven.One Entertainment Group GmbH
Medienallee 7
85774 Unterföhring
Germany
info@seven.one
+49 (0)89 / 9507 - 10
www.seven.one; www.kabeleins.de
RevenueMissing Data
Operating ProfitMissing Data
Advertising (in % of total funding)Missing Data
Market ShareMissing Data
Headlines
Meta DataThe share of the total audience in per cent for the TV channels comes from AGF Videoforschung in collaboration with GfK 2023 and refers to the average annual share of the total audience.
The Berlusconi family owns 50.002% of the votes, but not the shares, in MediaForEurope (MFE) through its holding company Fininvest. The latter holds 26.58 per cent of the shares in ProSiebenSat1 Media, which is based in Germany, while the Berlusconi family therefore only holds 13.29 per cent.
Sources
Documents (PDF)
  • Unternehmensbeteiligungen, MFE-MEDIAFOREUROPE N.V.
    Link File
  • Stimmrechtsanteile, ProSiebenSat.1 Media SE: Veröff entlichung gemäß § 40 Abs. 1 WpHGmit dem Ziel der europaweiten Verbreitung
    Link File
  • Geschäftsbericht 2023 - Die Kennzahlen der ProSiebenSat.1 Group
    Link File
  • Jahresabschluss zum 31.12.2023 und Lagebericht
    Link File
  • Bericht des Aufsichtsrats - für die Hauptversammlung 2024
    Link File
  • Bericht des Vorstands - für die Hauptversammlung 2024
    Link File