German pay-TV company Sky Deutschland AG (SKDTF.PK,SKDTY.PK) said Wednesday that its supervisory board has elected Jeremy Darroch, chief executive officer of British entertainment and communications provider British Sky Broadcasting Group plc (BSYBY.PK,BSY.L), as chairman of the supervisory board.
Darroch succeeds James Murdoch, Director and Co-Chief Operating Officer of Twenty-First Century Fox, Inc. (FOX, FOXA), who will remain a member of Sky Deutschland's supervisory board. James Murdoch is the son of media tycoon Rupert Murdoch.
The supervisory board of Sky Deutschland AG will comprise nine members. They include Jeremy Darroch and Markus Tellenbach as deputy chairman of the supervisory board. Tellenbach is President and CEO of TVN S.A., Poland.
The other members of the supervisory board include Andrew Griffith, CFO of BSkyB, Dr. Stefan Jentzsch, Partner of Perella Weinberg Partners LLC, UK, Mark Kaner, President of 20th Century Fox Television Distribution, U.S., and Miriam Kraus, Senior Vice President and Head of Global Governance, Risk & Compliance, SAP SE, Germany.
James Murdoch, Harald Rosch, Independent Corporate and Investment Consultant in Germany, and Katrin Wehr-Seiter, Managing Director of BIP Investment Partners in Luxembourg, are also members of the Sky Deutschland supervisory board.
In June 2013, Rupert Murdoch split News Corp (NWS, NWSA) into two public companies after concerns from shareholders in response to recent scandals and to unlock even greater shareholder value. Murdoch closed the News of the World, the 168-year-old UK tabloid, in July 2011 amid revelations that journalists hacked into the voice mails of many people.
Rupert Murdoch went on to head the more profitable media and entertainment business, 21st Century Fox Inc (FOXA), while the other company, the new News Corp, held the publication assets and is being led by CEO Robert Thomson.
In late July, British Sky Broadcasting, known as BskyB, said it agreed to acquire 21st Century Fox's 100 percent stake in Italian pay-TV provider Sky Italia and its 57.4 percent interest in German pay-TV company Sky Deutschland in a deal valued at nearly $9.3 billion.
Last Thursday, BskyB said it completed the acquisition of Sky Italia and a majority stake in Sky Deutschland.
The European Commission's executive arm, the European Commission, noted in September that the activities of the three companies involved in the merger are geographically complementary, and the companies are mainly active in different markets.
BSkyB's activities are mainly focused in the UK and Ireland, while Sky Deutschland's activities are mainly focused in Germany and Austria, and Sky Italia's activities are mainly focused in Italy.
Sky Deutschland's shares closed Wednesday's trading on Frankfurt's Xetra at $6.48, up $0.001 or 0.02 percent on a volume of 482,704 shares.
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