ProSiebenSat.1 Entertainment becomes SevenOne Entertainment

German commercial broadcaster ProSiebenSat.1’s entertainment business – which houses its TV channels, content and digital businesses – is changing its name to SevenOne Entertainment.

ProSiebenSat.1 Deutschland, which includes the group’s TV channels, will be bundled into the new SevenOne Entertainment Group along with advertising arm SevenOne Media.

The change follows on from the restructuring of the broadcaster into three arms last year encompassing, e-commerce, production and entertainment. The e-commerce unit was branded as NuCom, while ProSiebenSat.1 put its Red Arrow production arm up for sale.

“We have long since ceased to be a mere TV company but are consistently developing into a platform-agnostic entertainment house. And we are succeeding in this by producing more of our own content, which we can offer and exploit on different platforms,” said Wolfgang Link, co-CEO, entertainment at ProSiebenSat.1 Media.

“We have worked hard to bring our channel brands, content and digital business and marketing together under one roof. With the new structure, we are ideally positioned to become theentertainment house in the German-speaking world.”

The new company will focus more than previously on prosecution of its own content and the development of intellectual property rights. SevenOne Entertainment will include production activities such as Pyjama Pictures, the JV the company set up with Christian Ulmen and Carsten Kelber as well as channel brands ProSieben, Sat.1, Kabel Einsand Sixx, along with streaming JV Joyn, in which ProSiebenSat.1 has partnered with Discovery, and digital studio Studio71.

The group will restructure its management board in March with the addition of Henrik Pabst and Thomas Wagner. Pabst is chief content officer, responsible for all content, while Wagner is chief sales officer.

Nicole Agudo Berbel has meanwhile been appointed as chief distribution officer, responsible for distribution and pay TV.

The announcement of the latest changes follows news that Michaela Tod, co-CEO of the entertainment division along with Link, is to leave the company for personal reasons. Tod joined the group last year following the splitting off of the entertainment arm as a standalone company.