week 08 / 25 February 2016

AROUND THE WORLDAROUND THE CLOCK

How Enex breaks into new territories providing coverage around the clock

Singapore RTL CBS Asia Entertainment HD to air new season of House of Cards

Luxembourg/Germany European Works Council meets in Gütersloh

France Groupe M6 announces full-year results

week 08 / 25 February 2016

AROUND THE WORLDAROUND THE CLOCK

How Enex breaks into new territories providing coverage around the clock

Singapore RTL CBS Asia Entertainment HD to air new season of House of Cards

Luxembourg/Germany European Works Council meets in Gütersloh

France Groupe M6 announces full-year results

Cover Montage

PublisherRTL Group

45, Bd Pierre FriedenL-1543 Luxembourg

Editor, Design, ProductionRTL Group

Corporate Communications & Marketing

backstage.rtlgroup.com backstage.rtlgroup.fr backstage.rtlgroup.de

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QUICK VIEW

CROSSING CONTINENTS Enex p.4–7

Broadcast of new season of House of Cards RTL CBS Asia Entertainment Network p.11

Meeting in Gütersloh European Works Council

p.8

Announcement of 2015 full-year results

Groupe M6p.9

Nicolas de Tavernost’s interview with Les Echos

Groupe M6p.10

Announcement of 2015 full-year results Atresmediap.12

Big Picturep.13

SHORTNEWS

p.14

PEOPLE

p.15

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CROSSING CONTINENTS

Luxembourg – 25 February 2016

Enex

Adrian Wells, Managing Director of Enex

Enex, the RTL Group international news provider, recently welcomed the Al Arabiya news channel to its membership list, increasing Enex’s total number of members to 54. Backstage interviewed Enex’s

Managing Director Adrian Wells about its business model, the transformation undertaken

during the last years and its future plans.

“WHAT IS NEW AND EXCITING IS THAT WE’RE COORDINATING OUR ACTIVITIES THROUGH OUR OWN OFFICES IN SYDNEY AND BOGOTA”

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What is Enex’s business model?There are several layers to Enex’s business model: 1) a subscription service to our huge pool of live and recorded content 2) a cooperative association of privately owned broadcasters who achieve value through the interrelationships 3) Enex is a service provider – allowing members to broadcast and provide digital services at low cost.

Recently you added Al Arabiya to your membership list. Why is this new partnership is important for Enex?It’s obvious that the Middle East is a huge story. Take the war in Syria for example; it’s a tragedy for its own population, but you can see how it impacts on Europe. The conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan before still echo. The new détente between the West and Iran is fragile. To have partners from the region who can trade with each other and with the rest of Enex’s membership is vital. Al Arabiya has a network of correspondents and cameramen to cover these stories that many Enex partners couldn’t hope to reach.

During Enex’s transformation process from a merely technical service to a news provider, it set the goal of achieving 24/7 coverage. Has this been achieved yet? What is new and exciting is that we’re coordinating our activities through our own offices in Sydney (Australia) and Bogota (Colombia). These small but highly effective operations are based in the newsrooms of our partners. This move has transformed the quality of our round-the-clock services and reflects Enex’s truly global activities.

When Enex was initially established, its primary mission was to achieve privileged satellite prices for its members. What is Enex currently offering its members with regard to this?Using the buying power of the Enex collective to get a great deal on satellite space is still a very important part of the Enex offer. But newer technologies like 4G

Next >

ABOUT ENEX’S MOST RECENT MEMBERSHIP

Al Arabiya runs an extensive global network of correspondents and reporters to provide its audiences with the latest updates, scoops, interviews, and exclusives. With nearly 30 offices around the world and large-scale presence in several key countries, such as Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, and Yemen, Al Arabiya enjoys a competitive edge in providing on-ground, first hand coverage of major events of relevance to its audience and the world at large.

ABOUT…

Enex used to stand for European News Exchange but now we just say Enex as many of our partners are beyond our historical footprint. Some of the world’s leading commercial TV broadcasters are our members. Enex shares and provides news content production resources. Enex sources media content in addition to its partner contributions. Enex holds permanent satellite capacity and other technical infrastructure for use by its members.

Al Arabiya’s news studio

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Next >

and IP data transmissions are increasingly important to our members too. Satellite will continue to be part of the mix. Technology is the biggest driver for change in our industry and also a great opportunity. It has always made sense to cooperate on content and now we have many more ways of cooperating across a whole range of different technologies and platforms. Enex has developed 4G pool with a leading industry supplier Live U, a streaming network utility with Streambox and enhanced fibre connectivity.

In the second half of 2015, Luxembourg hosted the EU Presidency. What was Enex’s involvement in this?The Luxembourg Presidency gave Enex the chance to get even closer to European Union institutions. With our partners BCE and RTL Lëtzebuerg we were able to access, by fibre, the European Conference in Kirchberg and provide live positions at very low cost. Smaller privately-owned television channels can find it a challenge to cover the EU. For us, providing services at a low price is crucial to getting the story of the Presidency out.

2015 was a year full of breaking news of interest to the whole world, like the migration crisis, Charlie Hebdo, and the Paris and Istanbul attacks. How did Enex cover them? Enex radically improved its response to breaking news. We’ve nearly tripled the number of news events we cover and have often been one of the first service providers on the scene. The strength of our partners in France, Greece or wherever allows us to leverage their expertise and professionalism for the benefit of the Enex community.

Which event in 2015 scored the biggest video exchange among Enex members and why? Volume-wise there were two key stories: the refugee crisis extended for many months and affected many of our partners at their borders. This was a perfect story for our model of cooperation. More than 1,000 videos were exchanged at the height of the story. Secondly, the Paris attacks were of huge global significance. Our special operations completed more than 200 location transmissions with 28 of our partners who sent news teams to Paris.

ENEX IN NUMBERS

Enex’s newsroom in Luxembourg

52countries covered

38,100

news items exchangedin 2015

58countriescovered

100+news itemsexchangedevery day

38,100news itemsexchanged

in 2015

13employees

9employees’nationalities

54(more on the way)members

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You are in contact with the European Parliament to seal a partnership. What are the terms of this partnership? The European Union story just got sexy. Worries about a Greek exit in 2015 and now the looming vote in the United Kingdom about whether to stay in the EU or not is a big deal. We’ll be live in London, Manchester (the results centre) and we’re planning special programming with Sky to be live with a debate programme from the European Parliament in Brussels. The heightened interest in EU politics has validated our efforts to be closer to the institutions.

At the Enex 2015 Annual General Assembly in Paris, Google spoke about your recent deal. Could you provide some details about this deal? Google has included Enex in its Digital News Initiative. They want to engage the broadcast and publishing industry in a meaningful debate about how best to distribute and monetise content. They are offering training and a development fund to those who want to pitch. Whether Google is a friend or a competitor, our partners can now be part of that conversation and we’ve already benefited from Google News Lab experts at our Enex Coordinators Conference held at RTL Klub in Budapest in December 2015.

Digitisation is an objective for all media-related companies. To this end, you have recently installed a digital asset management system. How will this improve your everyday workflow? We’ve just completely overhauled our back-office systems to allow our newsroom journalists to ingest, manipulate and process media much more efficiently than before. The project, called ‘STEP’ was delivered by BCE and provides Enex with a fully integrated bookings, editorial and media asset management tool. We were fantastically served by our colleagues from BCE who know the Enex workflow intimately.

What are Enex’s objectives for 2016 and beyond? Three things:1) Keep improving an already great service 2) Grow into new territories 3) Harness technology to find new values in our partnership

Madhav Chinnappa, Google’s Head of Strategic Relations for News, at the Enex’s 2015 Annual General Assembly:

“We warmly welcome Enex into the Digital News Initiative”

GET TO KNOW ADRIAN

Adrian Wells, born in 1964, began his broadcasting career at BBC in 1987 as a graduate trainee. He started as a programme producer on the main evening news bulletin, and then progressed into international news. He was posted to Northern Ireland, Moscow, Brussels and finally Jerusalem as Middle East Bureau Chief. He returned to London as a World Assignments Editor and then Planning Editor for BBC News. In 2002, Adrian Wells joined Sky News as Head of Foreign News, a position he kept for eight years. In 2010 he became Launch Director of Sky’s sister Arabic station, Sky News Arabia, based in Abu Dhabi. During the last 18 months at Sky Adrian Wells was Head of International Development. Adrian Wells holds a Degree in Politics from Durham University. In September 2014 the Supervisory Board of Enex appointed Adrian Wells as the Company’s new Managing Director.

Adrian Wells, Managing Director of Enex

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On 15 and 16 February 2016, the RTL Group European Works Council (EWC) met for the first time at the premises of the parent company Bertelsmann. EWC representatives also had the chance to meet with Bertelsmann CEO and RTL Group Board of Directors Chairman Thomas Rabe and with Bertelsmann Chief HR Officer Immanuel Hermreck. Luxembourg / Germany – 22 February 2016

The two-day event at the Bertelsmann Corporate Centre was attended by delegates from RTL Group companies in the UK, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, France, Hungary, Croatia and Germany. Thomas Rabe and Immanuel Hermreck provided the EWC representatives with an overview of the situation, strategy and HR topics within the Bertelsmann group and discussed about the subject of creativity with them. The meeting primarily focused on the question of whether Bertelsmann gives its employees sufficient opportunity to present and implement their creative ideas. Thomas Rabe said: “We’ve already made great progress at group level, but there is still room for improvement in some of the divisions.”

Thomas Rabe presented Bertelsmann’s key priorities to the European Works Council, focusing on the digital transformation of the group and its businesses. The CEO also elaborated on the growth platform of education, the establishment of the Bertelsmann Education Group and its activities, primarily in the United States.

Moreover, the Bertelsmann CEO used the dialog with the employee representatives to raise awareness of an issue that will become increasingly important in future: changes in the world of work and jobs through automation and artificial intelligence. Rabe said that while IT will increasingly take over simpler activities, people will have to handle highly specialised activities – and be able to handle on. Therefore, he said it is an opportunity, but also a necessity that people continue to undergo training and gain qualifications.

Because this requires the willingness on the part of the staff, Thomas Rabe appealed to the EWC: “We need you as a partner to support the management by promoting this willingness in the workforce.” Immanuel Hermreck added: “That is why Bertelsmann is currently investing in its various IT-based continuing education courses, which are complemented by the introduction of Peoplenet, the ‘new’ Bertelsmann University and boot camps.” Thomas Rabe urged the RTL Group Works Council to maintain a dialog with him and the Immanuel Hermreck about this and other matters.

Source: Benet

MEETING IN GÜTERSLOH RTL Group

The members of the European Works Council with Thomas Rabe and Immanuel Hermreck

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In 2015, Groupe M6 generated consolidated revenue of €1,249.8 million (down 0.6 per cent). Despite a strong performance in TV, Groupe M6 achieved an EBITA of €200.2 million, down 3.5 per cent. France – 24 February 2016

The TV business saw its operating profit grow significantly due to a solid performance in advertising, driven by audience share gains by the group’s channels. This was offset by lower contribution from diversification activities. As a result, the consolidated margin from recurring operations was 16.0 per cent (2014: 16.5 per cent).

Advertising revenues recorded a healthy dynamic and grew by 2.1 per cent to €813.9 million, which was offset by a decrease in non-advertising revenue.

Net financial income totalled €2.0 million (31 December 2014: €3.7 million), reflecting a decrease in returns on cash investments and in the average amount invested. Net profit for the reporting period was €114.9 million compared with €123.2 million in 2014.

At the Combined General Meeting called for 26 April 2016, the Executive Board will propose the payment of a dividend of €0.85 per share, unchanged from the dividend paid in 2015. The ex-dividend date will be 18 May and dividends will be paid on 20 May 2016.

Click here to read the press release.

GROUPE M6 ANNOUNCES FULL-YEAR RESULTS FOR 2015

Groupe M6

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On 24 February 2016, Nicolas de Tavernost, Président du Directoire of Groupe M6, gave an interview to the daily newspaper Les Échos, in which he talked about the full-year results and group’s future strategy. France – 25 February 2016

The interview was an opportunity for Nicolas de Tavernost to discuss Groupe M6’s financial performance. On this subject he stated that “M6 is an excellent asset in case of recovery of the French economy.” He then went on to say that the group is looking to the future by focusing on the digital sector: “We were able to innovate by branching out into catch-up services and internet channels (Golden Moustache, etc.). We are fully prepared for the digital transition.”

As for future acquisitions, Nicolas de Tavernost underlined: “We are prepared to invest if regulation evolves in favour of a greater inclusion of production.” He also highlighted the high audience ratings of the group’s own productions: “We produce half of our access prime time ourselves, and this has met with great success with shows like Chasseur d’appart (Apartment Hunter).” He explained that investment forms part of the group’s development strategy because “in the long-run, we will need to transform from a TV channel into a media group. We are therefore looking at production and portfolio companies with a certain scale. We are also looking at mid-sized internet and digital marketing companies.” He also pointed out that the group has access to a €177 million budget and has a debt capacity of around €300 million, which leaves it good room for action in the future.

Asked about the possibility of going back to pay-TV, Nicolas de Tavernost rejected this path. As he said: “our core business is in free content, which is why we are determined, now more than ever, that Paris Première should become free-to-air. We want to increase our market share in this area and in parallel develop our activity in the royalties market.” The sale of the Girondins de Bordeaux football club is not on the cards either. In terms of its development strategy, the group prefers to focus on where its strengths lie: “First producing, distributing or broadcasting, then later monetising and diversifying –that is our profession.”

“WE ARE FULLY PREPARED FOR THE DIGITAL TRANSITION”

Groupe M6

Nicolas de Tavernost

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SPELLBOUND BY GROUPE M6

In January, Capital magazine, in collaboration with the Statista Institute, published its 2016 rankings of France’s top employers. Among the media and communications companies most appreciated by their employees and by those working in the same sector, Groupe M6 comes top of the broadcasting group list, ahead of Eurosport, TF1, France Télévision and Canal Plus.

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RTL CBS Asia Entertainment HD will air all 13 episodes of the fourth season of House of Cards with a ‘watchathon’ beginning on Saturday 5 March 2016 at 16:00, the same day as the new season starts in the US. Singapore – 22 February 2016

The ‘watchathon’ will be repeated the following day from 08:00. “The fourth season of House of Cards is highly-anticipated by viewers in the region and we are very excited to bring the brand new season to this part of the world first and exclusive within 12 hours of its release in the US,” says Jennifer Batty, EVP Programming, RTL CBS Asia Entertainment Network.

“RTL CBS Entertainment HD is the only place where fans can see the new season of House of Cards,” says Jonas Engwall, CEO, RTL CBS Asia Entertainment Network. “Delivering all 13 episodes in high-definition, back-to-back, localised with subtitles on the same day as the US, we guarantee audiences in the region a great viewing experience.”

House of Cards follows the ruthless and cunning, Francis Underwood (Kevin Spacey) and his wife Claire (Robin Wright) as they stop at nothing to conquer everything. Underwood has risen from House Majority Whip to President of the United States of America, while his wife Claire plays the dutiful wife with her own political ambitions. This wicked political drama penetrates the shadowy world of greed, sex, corruption and power that intertwine in modern Washington DC.

RTL CBS ASIA PLAYS ITS CARDS RIGHT! RTL CBS Asia Entertainment Network

Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright star in House of Cards

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On 25 February 2016, Atresmedia published its 2015 full-year results. Profiting from the on-going recovery of the Spanish economy, the company increased its revenue to €970.2 million (2014: €883.2 million) and also increased EBITDA. Spain – 25 February 2015

The TV advertising market in Spain grew by 6.4 per cent in 2015, with Atresmedia profiting from this development. The company generated net revenue of €970.2 million for 2015, up 9.8 per cent after €883.2 million in 2014, while EBITDA was up 29.8 per cent to €165.7 million (2014: €127.7 million).

In 2015, the Atresmedia family of channels achieved a combined audience share of 29.2 per cent in the target group. The flagship channel Antena 3 achieved a prime-time audience share of 14.9 per cent in the 16 to 54 demographic. During the year the Atresmedia Group launched its new Mega and Atreseries channels. Mega, aimed at a male adult audience, was launched on 1 July 2015 and achieved an average audience share of 2.0 per cent in the second half of the year. Atreseries, a high definition channel dedicated to fiction productions, began broadcasting on 22 December 2015.

RTL Group owns a 18.7 per cent stake in Atresmedia.

ATRESMEDIA REPORTS INCREASING REVENUES AND EBITDA

Atresmedia

Second to noneThe Matmut Atlantique Stadium in Bordeaux was delivered to the Groupe M6’ French football club Girondins de Bordeaux club in April 2015. Selected from among more than 3,000 projects around the world, the new stadium has won the Sports Architecture Award in the 2016 Building of the Year competition organised by the architecture website archdaily.com. The stadium in Bordeaux was chosen for the elegance of its architecture, the lightness of its design and its highly geometric construction.

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Listen up! CLT-UFA On Monday 22 February 2016, L’Essentiel Radio was launched in Luxembourg, on 107.7 FM, by Prime Minister and Communications and Media Minister Xavier Bettel. CLT-UFA has a 25 per cent stake in this French-speaking radio. Luxembourg – 22 February 2016

More programmes! Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland and cable operator Unitymedia expand their partnership. As of now, Unitymedia clients can watch – in addition to content of RTL Television and Vox – RTL Crime, RTL Passion and RTL Living formats seven days after broadcasting. Germany – 25 February 2016

A new awaited neighbour FremantleMedia Australia FremantleMedia’s Australia cult series Neighbours is joined by a much awaited new cast member: eighteen-year-old actress, model, singer and blogger Sarah Ellen has been cast in the coveted role as Madison Robinson, Kylie Minogue’s on-screen daughter. Australia – 25 February 2016

Topping the list BroadbandTV Women in Communications and Technology has announced the recipients of their Leadership Excellence Awards. BroadbandTV CEO Shahrzad Rafati has been named 2016 Entrepreneur of the Year. Read more here about the award. North America – 22 February 2016

Experience Miami from every angle! UFA Lab To mark the commercial launch of the new Smart Fortwo convertible in March 2016, UFA Lab developed a virtual 360° test drive through Miami. Click here to be part of the drive! Germany – 22 February 2016

SHORT NEWS

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PEOPLE

MARIE LANGGÄRTNER

SpotX Deutschland Germany – 24 February 2016

SpotX Deutschland is expanding its sales activities, with Marie Langgärtner taking charge of the Programmatic Demand division with immediate effect, completing the Senior Team covering Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

As Head of Programmatic Demand, Langgärtner will report to Stefan Beckmann, Managing Director of SpotX Deutschland. Beckmann has been in charge of the German-language business of the US-based parent company SpotX since March 2015, and when SpotX and Delta Advertising formed the joint venture SpotX Deutschland, he assumed the responsibility for managing it.

Langgärtner’s duties include optimising and transacting SpotX’s programmatic sales in German-speaking countries, but she is also in charge of negotiations with agencies, demand-side platforms and advertisers.

Stefan Beckmann, the Managing Director of SpotX Deutschland, says: “Marie Langgärtner’s experience in sales will be a tremendous new asset for our team. Her understanding of what advertisers and agencies are out to achieve will definitely enable us to boost the effectiveness and efficiency of investments in programmatic advertising across all screens and streams.”

From May to December 2015, Langgärtner was a Key Account Manager at Delta Advertising. Between 2013 and 2015 she worked for Media Group One, first as Head of Sales South and then as Head of Programmatic Sales. Prior to that, she worked at Fantastic Zero (formerly Glam Media), which was taken over by Mode Media in 2010, the year she started working for the company. She originally qualified as a Business Administrator for Dialogue Marketing, graduating from the Bavarian Academy of Advertising and Marketing (BAW).

About SpotX DeutschlandSpotX Deutschland is a joint venture set up by SpotX and Delta Advertising, a subsidiary of Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland. The company markets the full in-stream inventory of Delta Advertising and is the exclusive sell-side platform partner for all programmatic in-stream products of IP Deutschland, Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland’s advertising sales house.

Marie Langgärtner

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