RTL Group welcomes the European Commission’s announcement that it has approved the planned acquisition of Sky Deutschland (DACH). RTL Group and Sky Group/Comcast will now finalise the transaction, which is expected to close on 1 June 2026, as the company has claimed in a statement.

With the completion of the transaction, Elke Walthelm and Michael Radelsberger from Sky Deutschland will join the management board of RTL Deutschland.

New appointments

Elke Walthelm (49), currently Chief Operating Officer of Sky Deutschland, will be appointed Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) of RTL Deutschland. She will lead the People & Culture division and play a central role in the integration of both companies.

Michael Radelsberger (42), currently Managing Director of Sky Austria and Sky Media, will become Chief Consumer Officer, taking responsibility for the pay-TV business, which currently serves around 12.3 million paying subscribers across RTL+, Sky, and WOW.

Julia Kloke (46), currently CFO at Bertelsmann financial services provider Riverty, will become the new CFO of RTL Deutschland effective 1 May 2026.

Ingrid Heisserer, currently CFO and CHRO of RTL Deutschland, and Carsten Schwecke, currently Managing Director responsible for Sales, IT, Data and Technology, will leave the company at their own request and by mutual agreement.

Frank Vogel, Managing Director of RTL Deutschland’s advertising sales unit Ad Alliance, will in future report directly to CEO Stephan Schmitter.

Andreas Fischer, Inga Leschek and Max Orgonyi will remain in the management board of RTL Deutschland, which will be composed as follows:

• Stephan Schmitter, Chief Executive Officer
• Andreas Fischer, Chief Operating Officer
• Julia Kloke, Chief Financial Officer
• Inga Leschek, Chief Content Officer
• Max Orgonyi, Chief Transformation & AI Officer
• Michael Radelsberger, Chief Consumer Officer
• Elke Walthelm, Chief Human Resources Officer

Thomas Rabe, CEO of RTL Group, shares: “The merger of RTL and Sky creates a unique offering in entertainment, sports and news across free-to-air TV, pay-TV and streaming. We will gradually integrate Sky and RTL and expect to realise annual synergies of around €250 million within three years. Our goal is to bring together the best talent, content and processes from both companies”.

He adds: “I am very pleased to appoint Elke Walthelm, Julia Kloke and Michael Radelsberger to the management board of RTL Deutschland. They will, under the leadership of Stephan Schmitter, drive the integration and further transformation of the company. I wish the new management team every success in this important and demanding task. At the same time, I would like to sincerely thank Ingrid Heisserer and Carsten Schwecke for their successful work and commitment, and wish them all the best for the future”.

Stephan Schmitter, CEO of RTL Deutschland, concludes: “The composition of the new management board underlines our clear focus on consistently aligning the combined organisation with the future of television – in particular the streaming business. We place our high-quality local content and the interests of our audiences at the centre of our strategy. I look forward to working with this strong and diverse leadership team, as well as all employees, to address the major challenges in the market and further strengthen our position”.

Objectives

The combined business looks forward to offering a broader German-language content portfolio for consumers across the DACH region. Viewers will have access to live sports, entertainment and news across RTL+, Sky, WOW and RTL’s free-to-air channels.

The transaction is expected to generate €250 million in annual synergies within three years after closing, mostly cost synergies across all categories.

Transaction terms

According to the agreement, RTL Group will fully acquire Sky’s businesses in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, including customer relationships in Luxembourg, Liechtensten and South Tyrol on a cash-free and debt-free basis.

At closing, RTL Group will pay €150 million to Comcast, Sky’s parent company, in cash, subject to adjustments. The potential variable consideration is linked to RTL Group’s share price performance. The variable consideration can be triggered by Comcast at any time within five years after closing, provided that RTL Group’s share price exceeds €41, subject to certain adjustments. The variable consideration is capped at €377 million in total. RTL Group has the right to settle the variable consideration in RTL Group shares, cash, or a combination of both.

RTL Group already bought 3.5 million treasury shares to be in a position to settle the variable consideration fully or partly in shares. After the payout of the dividend for the year 2025, RTL Group will continue its share buyback, up to an additional volume of around 0.5 million shares, through open-market transactions.

Under a separate trademark license agreement, RTL will have the right to use the Sky brand in the DACH region (Germany, Austria, Switzerland), Luxembourg, Liechtenstein and South Tyrol. RTL will acquire Sky Deutschland’s streaming brand WOW as part of the transaction.

RTL Deutschland will remain headquartered in Cologne and Sky Deutschland in Munich.

PJT Partners served as advisor to Comcast on the transaction.