TVEUROPE
The newly founded German media company that emerges from Tele München Group, Universum Film, i&u TV and Wiedemann & Berg Film has put in place a new structure for its licensing division.
The yet-to-be-named outfit has a rights library of more than 7,000 titles and continuous investments in new feature films (Moonfall), license series (Sanctuary) and international co-financing and co-productions (Professionals, Spy City).
Fred Kogel, as CEO of the group, will assume overall responsibility for the licensing division. Alexander Janssen will report to him as senior VP of acquisitions, having previously served as head of international acquisitions for Universum Film. Cosima von Spreti will be responsible for national and international co-financing and co-productions.
The acquisitions team will be supported by Thomas Augsberger and his company Eden Rock Media in Los Angeles. Augsberger has been advising Tele München Group on the acquisition of feature films and the development of film and series co-productions for many years and will remain the primary contact for U.S.-based licensing and production partners.
A new senior VP of sales will be appointed later this year. Until then, Kogel will temporarily lead the sales department. Myriam Gauff supports Kogel as senior sales manager in Germany. The heads of digital distribution—Marc Arndt, with a focus on digital sales and marketing, and Danny Humphreys, with a focus on business intelligence, aggregation and channels—will report to him on the SVOD rights sales to digital platforms.
Thomas Müller will lead the newly created license services division, supporting both license acquisitions and sales across the entire value chain.
Giannina Antola, head of international sales at world sales unit TM International, will remain in charge of international program sales.
Kogel said: “With the creation of the licensing division next to the production and distribution divisions, we have reached an important milestone in our restructuring. This unit is one of the core business areas of the new group. With our premium new product as well as our extensive and high-quality rights library, we are able to create a custom-made offer for every program provider—be it free-TV broadcasters, pay-TV broadcasters or OTT platforms. With Alex, Cosima, Thomas, Myriam, Marc, Danny, Thomas and Giannina we have succeeded in bringing together a great team, with whom we will invest sustainably in new international feature films and series and at the same time we will be able to perfectly manage the creation of value nationally and internationally across all stages of exploitation.”
