German public broadcasters ARD and ZDF have now officially established a limited company to launch the VOD service, Germany’s Gold GmbH.
The announcement was made by the commercial arms of the two public broadcasters, WDR Mediagroup and ZDF Enterprises. Germany’s Gold GmbH will be headed by a dual management team consisting of general managers Antoine Schmidt-Roy, head of Online Media and member of the management of Studio Hamburg Distribution & Marketing, and media executive Jochen Kröhne.
The broadcasters are still awaiting regulatory approval from the monopoly commission, the Bundeskartellamt. When they receive the green light, the venture should start business before the end of the year. The portal is to finance itself both through per-view fees as well as through subscriptions and advertising.
Although Germany’s Gold is the name of the JV, the name will not be used when the services launches. The online video service will offer the best of German TV and movie production from the past sixty years, but will also feature international products.
Altogether 17 firms are participating in Germany´s Gold GmbH: Autentic GmbH, Bavaria Fernsehproduktion GmbH, Beta Film GmbH, Brainpool Artist & Content Services GmbH, MME Moviement AG, neue deutsche Filmgesellschaft mbH, Opal Filmproduktion GmbH, Schmidtz Katze Filmkollektiv GmbH, Studio Hamburg Produktion Gruppe GmbH, SWR Media Services GmbH, Telepool GmbH, TV 60 Filmproduktion GmbH, TV Plus GmbH, WDR mediagroup GmbH, ZDF Enterprises GmbH, Ziegler Film GmbH & Co. KG, ZieglerFilm Köln GmbH.
