Tony Ball will today resign his chairmanship of Kabel Deutschland. The former BSkyB CEO is stepping down following the €7 billion takeover of the cablenet by Vodafone.
Ball, who led BSkyB between 1999 and 2003, has been executive chairman of Germany’s largest cable operator since 2005. He is also a non-executive director at BT Group.
In an interview with the Daily Telegraph, Ball said KDG was a boring company before his arrival: “All it did was provide analogue television to 10m German homes. In Germany, there wasn’t really terrestrial television as we have it in the UK. Most homes received their TV through wires, for which they paid a small fee. Most customers didn’t even know they were customers because they would get their cable through their housing association contracts.”
The operator’s fortunes changed following a management reshuffle and a move towards digitisation.
Separately, KDG has confirmed Vodafone now holds 76.57% of the company.