RTL Belgium Head Elected President of the ACT

BRUSSELS: Philippe Delusinne, the CEO of RTL Belgium, has been elected as the new president of the Association of Commercial Television in Europe (ACT).

Delusinne succeeds Nicolas de Tavernost, the chairman of the executive management board of M6, who has been the ACT President for the last six years. Delusinne has some 20 years of experience in managing local and international clients in the advertising business. He was appointed CEO of RTL Belgium in March 2002.

Of his appointment, Delusinne commented: “I am looking forward to my new responsibilities. At a time of fast technological change and a challenging economic environment, cooperation and joint action among commercial broadcasters on policy suggestions coming out of Brussels are of ever greater importance. We are confident in our business models but call on policy-makers for regulatory relief so that our sector will be able to prosper in an increasingly competitive market environment, in particular when compared to our publicly-financed competitors who are much less affected by the crisis.”

De Tavernost said: “I am delighted to be handing over to Philippe and wish him every success in his mandate. I have always believed that the commercial television sector needs to engage not just on regulatory issues but also to do more to communicate the many strengths of our sector to European decision-makers.”

Ross Biggam, the director general of the ACT, added: “I would like to use this opportunity to thank Nicolas de Tavernost for his active and successful engagement as ACT president for the last six years. At the same time I would like to welcome our new president, Philippe Delusinne. In the light of the political changes in Brussels this year, we will need more than ever to engage with politicians and policy-makers and be an active player in the debate about European media policy. In all future policy discussions around content and infrastructure regulation, competition policy, copyright protection or media pluralism, it should not be forgotten that our member companies offer choice and variety to the European viewer on a daily basis.”

The ACT is a trade association representing the interests of the commercial broadcasting sector in Europe. The group has 28 member companies active in 34 European countries operating more than 400 free-to-air and pay-tv channels and distributing several hundred channels and new services. The ACT president is elected for a period of two years.