Devesh Raj will take the helm at Comcast-owned Sky Deutschland, replacing Carsten Schmidt, who has stepped down and will leave at year-end.
Devesh joined Sky as COO last summer after Comcast took over the European pay-tv giant. Prior to Sky he was at Comcast in the U.S. for five years in a strategy role.
Schmidt will retain an advisory position at Sky Deutschland, having been with the business for two decades. He has been CEO for four-and-a-half years. Sky originals “Das Boot” and “Babylon Berlin” rolled out on his watch, as did the high-end Sky Q service.
Sky has about 5 million customers in German-speaking markets. As was the case with Schmidt, Raj will report to Andrea Zappia, Sky’s CEO, continental Europe.
Zappia paid tribute to Schmidt, who he said “has been a major contributor to Sky’s growth and success over two decades.” He added: “Having worked...
Devesh joined Sky as COO last summer after Comcast took over the European pay-tv giant. Prior to Sky he was at Comcast in the U.S. for five years in a strategy role.
Schmidt will retain an advisory position at Sky Deutschland, having been with the business for two decades. He has been CEO for four-and-a-half years. Sky originals “Das Boot” and “Babylon Berlin” rolled out on his watch, as did the high-end Sky Q service.
Sky has about 5 million customers in German-speaking markets. As was the case with Schmidt, Raj will report to Andrea Zappia, Sky’s CEO, continental Europe.
Zappia paid tribute to Schmidt, who he said “has been a major contributor to Sky’s growth and success over two decades.” He added: “Having worked...
- 11/21/2019
- by Stewart Clarke
- Variety Film + TV
Devesh Raj will replace Carsten Schmidt as the CEO of Sky Deutschland, the German unit of European pay TV giant Sky, which is owned by Comcast. Schmidt, who has spent the past 20 years at Sky Deutschland, the last four-and-a-half years as CEO, will step down on Jan. 1, 2020. Raj joined Sky Deutschland this summer as COO for continental Europe and provisional chief commercial officer. Before that, he spent five years at Comcast/NBCUniversal as senior vp strategic and financial planning. Comcast acquired Sky — Europe's largest pay TV operator — in a $39 billion deal with 21st ...
- 11/21/2019
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
Production on the big-budget television series is set to commence this summer.
Bavaria Fernsehproduktion, Sky Deutschland and Sonar Entertainment have announced that filming on the Das Boot sequel will begin this summer, and have revealed its cast.
The eight-episode series is a sequel to Lothar-Günther Buchheim’s novel and 1981 film of the same name and will premiere in autumn in 2018 in Sky territories Germany, Austria, Italy, the UK and Ireland. Co-producer Sonar Entertainment will handle international distribution in the rest of the world.
Directed by Andreas Prochaska, the 104-day shoot on the $28 million production is set to begin on August 31 in La Rochelle, France and will contine in Prague, Malta and Munich.
In addition, the cast has been announced for the event series, including including Lizzy Caplan, August Wittgenstein and Rainer Bock.
Also starring are Rick Okon, Vicky Krieps, Jonathan Zaccaϊ, Leonard Scheicher, Robert Stadlober, Franz Dinda and Stefan Konarske.
Tony Saint and [link...
Bavaria Fernsehproduktion, Sky Deutschland and Sonar Entertainment have announced that filming on the Das Boot sequel will begin this summer, and have revealed its cast.
The eight-episode series is a sequel to Lothar-Günther Buchheim’s novel and 1981 film of the same name and will premiere in autumn in 2018 in Sky territories Germany, Austria, Italy, the UK and Ireland. Co-producer Sonar Entertainment will handle international distribution in the rest of the world.
Directed by Andreas Prochaska, the 104-day shoot on the $28 million production is set to begin on August 31 in La Rochelle, France and will contine in Prague, Malta and Munich.
In addition, the cast has been announced for the event series, including including Lizzy Caplan, August Wittgenstein and Rainer Bock.
Also starring are Rick Okon, Vicky Krieps, Jonathan Zaccaϊ, Leonard Scheicher, Robert Stadlober, Franz Dinda and Stefan Konarske.
Tony Saint and [link...
- 6/30/2017
- ScreenDaily
X Filme board Josef Bierbichler’s adaptation of his 2011 novel Mittelreich.
Berlin-based X Filme Creative Pool Entertainment has recruited Beta Cinema to handle international sales on veteran Bavarian actor-director Josef Bierbichler’s adaptation of his 2011 novel Mittelreich.
The chronicle of a rural Bavarian community facing the challenges of technological and social change during the last century began shooting in Thuringia a week ago with Bierbichler directing as well as playing the central role of the village innkeeper.
The cast includes Bierbichler’s son Simon Donatz who plays the innkeeper character as a young man and had appeared with his father in Tom Tykwer’s Winter Sleepers 20 years ago as father and son, as well as Martina Gedeck, known to international audiences from The Lives of Others and last year’s Original Bliss.
On the eve of this year’s Berlinale, X Filme and Beta Film announced a strategic partnership between the two companies as they unveiled the first...
Berlin-based X Filme Creative Pool Entertainment has recruited Beta Cinema to handle international sales on veteran Bavarian actor-director Josef Bierbichler’s adaptation of his 2011 novel Mittelreich.
The chronicle of a rural Bavarian community facing the challenges of technological and social change during the last century began shooting in Thuringia a week ago with Bierbichler directing as well as playing the central role of the village innkeeper.
The cast includes Bierbichler’s son Simon Donatz who plays the innkeeper character as a young man and had appeared with his father in Tom Tykwer’s Winter Sleepers 20 years ago as father and son, as well as Martina Gedeck, known to international audiences from The Lives of Others and last year’s Original Bliss.
On the eve of this year’s Berlinale, X Filme and Beta Film announced a strategic partnership between the two companies as they unveiled the first...
- 2/9/2017
- by screen.berlin@googlemail.com (Martin Blaney)
- ScreenDaily
X Filme board Josef Bierbichler’s adaptation of his 2011 novel Mittelreich.
Berlin-based X Filme Creative Pool Entertainment has recruited Beta Cinema to handle international sales on veteran Bavarian actor-director Josef Bierbichler’s adaptation of his 2011 novel Mittelreich.
The chronicle of a rural Bavarian community facing the challenges of technological and social change during the last century began shooting in Thuringia a week ago with Bierbichler directing as well as playing the central role of the village innkeeper.
The cast includes Bierbichler’s son Simon Donatz who plays the innkeeper character as a young man and had appeared with his father in Tom Tykwer’s Winter Sleepers 20 years ago as father and son, as well as Martina Gedeck, known to international audiences from The Lives of Others and last year’s Original Bliss.
On the eve of this year’s Berlinale, X Filme and Beta Film unveiled the first footage of the 16-part high-end TV series Babylon Berlin which...
Berlin-based X Filme Creative Pool Entertainment has recruited Beta Cinema to handle international sales on veteran Bavarian actor-director Josef Bierbichler’s adaptation of his 2011 novel Mittelreich.
The chronicle of a rural Bavarian community facing the challenges of technological and social change during the last century began shooting in Thuringia a week ago with Bierbichler directing as well as playing the central role of the village innkeeper.
The cast includes Bierbichler’s son Simon Donatz who plays the innkeeper character as a young man and had appeared with his father in Tom Tykwer’s Winter Sleepers 20 years ago as father and son, as well as Martina Gedeck, known to international audiences from The Lives of Others and last year’s Original Bliss.
On the eve of this year’s Berlinale, X Filme and Beta Film unveiled the first footage of the 16-part high-end TV series Babylon Berlin which...
- 2/9/2017
- by screen.berlin@googlemail.com (Martin Blaney)
- ScreenDaily
The $28.5m eight-part series will serve as a sequel to the 1981 hit film.
Bavaria Film and Sky Deutschland are developing an international high-end TV series based on the books Das Boot and Die Festungfrom Lothar-Günther Buchheim.
The $28.5m (€25m) Das Boot – The Series, which will have an international cast, is conceived as a sequel to Wolfgang Petersen’s 1981 hit film (which also counted Bavaria as a producer).
It will pick up from events at the end of the film. The crew of the U 96 returns to La Rochelle in 1942 and is exposed to a severe air raid on the submarine harbour. A portion of the crew is killed.
The series focuses primarily on the German perspective of the brutal submarine warfare that takes place from 1942 onward. The point of view expands to also include the French Resistance and the Allied Forces on both land and sea.
The 8 x 60’ series is expected to begin airing internationally in 2018 across...
Bavaria Film and Sky Deutschland are developing an international high-end TV series based on the books Das Boot and Die Festungfrom Lothar-Günther Buchheim.
The $28.5m (€25m) Das Boot – The Series, which will have an international cast, is conceived as a sequel to Wolfgang Petersen’s 1981 hit film (which also counted Bavaria as a producer).
It will pick up from events at the end of the film. The crew of the U 96 returns to La Rochelle in 1942 and is exposed to a severe air raid on the submarine harbour. A portion of the crew is killed.
The series focuses primarily on the German perspective of the brutal submarine warfare that takes place from 1942 onward. The point of view expands to also include the French Resistance and the Allied Forces on both land and sea.
The 8 x 60’ series is expected to begin airing internationally in 2018 across...
- 6/23/2016
- ScreenDaily
"Babylon Berlin," the path-breaking joint serial project of X-Filme, Ard Degeto, Sky and Beta Film, is finalizing its pre-production and will start shooting in April. The high-end series, set in the roaring 1920s in Berlin, will be produced until the end of the year. Created by showrunner Tom Tykwer (“Sense 8”, “Cloud Atlas”, “Run Lola Run”) and his writer/director team Achim von Borries (“Alone in Berlin”) and Hendrik Handloegten (“Good Bye, Lenin”), "Babylon Berlin" stars “Generation War”-lead Volker Bruch and multiple-award-winning and up-and-coming actress Liv Lisa Fries (“She Deserved It”). The four partners have already signed in for two seasons. X-Filme producer Stefan Arndt: “We’re particularly happy that we’ll be able to complete two series of eight episodes each during the first shooting. This shows how enthusiastic and confident all of the partners are in our joint project.”
Kutscher’s "Babylon Berlin," centering on police inspector Gereon Rath, delivers an atmospheric portrayal of Berlin as the most exciting city in the world of that time, a hotbed of drugs and politics, murder and art, emancipation and extremism.
Sky will broadcast the series in 2017 and Ard in 2018. As co-producer, Beta Film will be responsible for the worldwide distribution of the series.
Beta Film’s director Jan Mojto explains, “Made in Germany is also a hallmark of quality in television. Due to the subject, the creative energy invested in the project, the names involved, its high standards, and not least, its budget, the first international reactions to the project have been very positive. 'Babylon Berlin' doesn’t need to take second stage to any of the major international series.”
The broadcasting team at Sky Deutschland and Ard Degeto emphasized how unique this collaboration is going to be. In the words of Volker Herres, program director at Erstes Deutsches Fernsehen: “We would like to build on the incredible success of Volker Kutscher’s novels. These are exciting stories with a historical background, and we want to present them to German television audiences in a serial production that holds up to international standards. With this goal, we benefit from a collaboration between three strong partners so X Filme and Tom Tykwer can implement the detective series in grand style.”
“Babylon Berlin,” Carsten Schmidt, Chief Executive Officer of Sky Deutschland reports, “is an exceptional project and a perfect match for Sky – bold storytelling, an outstanding cast, and Tom Tykwer’s incredibly creative team. The cooperation between X Filme, Ard, Degeto, and Beta Film is an impressive example of a fruitful and fair collaboration where all the partners are striking a unique path for Germany and Austria. With 'Babylon Berlin,' we are adding an in-house German production segment to our exclusive international agreements with such major partners as HBO and Showtime – a direction we will be moving in even more in the future.”
And Christine Strobl, managing director of Ard Degeto adds, “'Babylon Berlin' is a special project and very important for Ard. With this series, Ard Degeto will be offering Das Erste audiences a real treat that can stand up to international comparison from both the narrative and visual points of view. With regard to cooperation and financing, such an exceptional project deserves an exceptional approach. I am looking forward to the upcoming start of filming – judging from the screenplays, we can expect some outstanding television.”
A special challenge for the three authors and directors, Tom Tykwer, Achim von Borries, and Hendrik Handloegten. “For a long time, we were searching for subject matter that could tell the story of this unique era in all its facets,” Tom Tykwer explains. “We finally found it in Kutscher’s novels. And after Achim, Hendrik, and I spent three years working intensively on the screenplay, I can hardly wait now to get started.”
Achim von Borries adds, “The final years of the Weimar Republic were a time of continual crisis and constant attacks from political extremists. A rapidly growing city with immigrants from all over the world was in the middle of it all – Berlin, the international melting pot, with the pressure constantly mounting. This was a source of inexhaustible material for us as authors. And to finally have the opportunity to portray the atmosphere of the late 20s is a challenge to us as directors – absolutely huge and incredibly exciting.”
For Hendrik Handloegten, the city of Berlin plays one of the key roles: “Berlin in the final Weimar years was characterized by its fast pace, freedom, and diversity. But soon it was too much speed, too much freedom, too much diversity. A city that is always becoming, but never is. In 'Babylon Berlin,' the city is the protagonist. And Berlin in 1929 is a bestial, monstrous, famished and satiated, exalted and down-to-earth, elegant and degenerate, perverse and chaste… and mysterious protagonist. The best thing that could happen to an author and director.”
Stefan Arndt adds, “We’re really looking forward to capturing this exuberant episode of Berlin’s history here in the city itself, thanks to all our partners and sponsors. A stunning outdoor set is being built right now in Babelsberg that will evoke so many impressions of the city at the time. Together with our experienced film artists from our previous productions, we are greatly looking forward to bringing the world of the 1920s to life in a TV series. For all of us, this project is the dawn of a new epoch in television production.”
Volker Bruch captivated millions of television viewers with his portrayal of Wehrmacht officer Wilhelm in “Generation War”. As one of the five leading actors, he won a special prize at the 2013 Bavarian TV Awards for his performance, as well as a German Television Award and Emmy Award.
Liv Lisa Fries won considerable acclaim in the Ard film “She Deserved it”, where she plays the aggressive teenager Linda who tortures her classmate to death. She was awarded the 2012 Golden Camera as Best Young Actress for her convincing performance, and also won the 2011 Günter Strack Television Award.
The chief editors of "Babylon Berlin" are Christine Strobl, Sascha Schwingel, and Carolin Haasis (Ard Degeto), Gebhard Henke and Caren Toenissen (Wdr), and Marcus Ammon and Frank Jastfelder (Sky Deutschland). The producers for X Filme are Stefan Arndt, Uwe Schott, and Michael Polle.
The project is sponsored by Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, Creative Europe Media, and the Nrw Film and Media Foundation.
Kutscher’s "Babylon Berlin," centering on police inspector Gereon Rath, delivers an atmospheric portrayal of Berlin as the most exciting city in the world of that time, a hotbed of drugs and politics, murder and art, emancipation and extremism.
Sky will broadcast the series in 2017 and Ard in 2018. As co-producer, Beta Film will be responsible for the worldwide distribution of the series.
Beta Film’s director Jan Mojto explains, “Made in Germany is also a hallmark of quality in television. Due to the subject, the creative energy invested in the project, the names involved, its high standards, and not least, its budget, the first international reactions to the project have been very positive. 'Babylon Berlin' doesn’t need to take second stage to any of the major international series.”
The broadcasting team at Sky Deutschland and Ard Degeto emphasized how unique this collaboration is going to be. In the words of Volker Herres, program director at Erstes Deutsches Fernsehen: “We would like to build on the incredible success of Volker Kutscher’s novels. These are exciting stories with a historical background, and we want to present them to German television audiences in a serial production that holds up to international standards. With this goal, we benefit from a collaboration between three strong partners so X Filme and Tom Tykwer can implement the detective series in grand style.”
“Babylon Berlin,” Carsten Schmidt, Chief Executive Officer of Sky Deutschland reports, “is an exceptional project and a perfect match for Sky – bold storytelling, an outstanding cast, and Tom Tykwer’s incredibly creative team. The cooperation between X Filme, Ard, Degeto, and Beta Film is an impressive example of a fruitful and fair collaboration where all the partners are striking a unique path for Germany and Austria. With 'Babylon Berlin,' we are adding an in-house German production segment to our exclusive international agreements with such major partners as HBO and Showtime – a direction we will be moving in even more in the future.”
And Christine Strobl, managing director of Ard Degeto adds, “'Babylon Berlin' is a special project and very important for Ard. With this series, Ard Degeto will be offering Das Erste audiences a real treat that can stand up to international comparison from both the narrative and visual points of view. With regard to cooperation and financing, such an exceptional project deserves an exceptional approach. I am looking forward to the upcoming start of filming – judging from the screenplays, we can expect some outstanding television.”
A special challenge for the three authors and directors, Tom Tykwer, Achim von Borries, and Hendrik Handloegten. “For a long time, we were searching for subject matter that could tell the story of this unique era in all its facets,” Tom Tykwer explains. “We finally found it in Kutscher’s novels. And after Achim, Hendrik, and I spent three years working intensively on the screenplay, I can hardly wait now to get started.”
Achim von Borries adds, “The final years of the Weimar Republic were a time of continual crisis and constant attacks from political extremists. A rapidly growing city with immigrants from all over the world was in the middle of it all – Berlin, the international melting pot, with the pressure constantly mounting. This was a source of inexhaustible material for us as authors. And to finally have the opportunity to portray the atmosphere of the late 20s is a challenge to us as directors – absolutely huge and incredibly exciting.”
For Hendrik Handloegten, the city of Berlin plays one of the key roles: “Berlin in the final Weimar years was characterized by its fast pace, freedom, and diversity. But soon it was too much speed, too much freedom, too much diversity. A city that is always becoming, but never is. In 'Babylon Berlin,' the city is the protagonist. And Berlin in 1929 is a bestial, monstrous, famished and satiated, exalted and down-to-earth, elegant and degenerate, perverse and chaste… and mysterious protagonist. The best thing that could happen to an author and director.”
Stefan Arndt adds, “We’re really looking forward to capturing this exuberant episode of Berlin’s history here in the city itself, thanks to all our partners and sponsors. A stunning outdoor set is being built right now in Babelsberg that will evoke so many impressions of the city at the time. Together with our experienced film artists from our previous productions, we are greatly looking forward to bringing the world of the 1920s to life in a TV series. For all of us, this project is the dawn of a new epoch in television production.”
Volker Bruch captivated millions of television viewers with his portrayal of Wehrmacht officer Wilhelm in “Generation War”. As one of the five leading actors, he won a special prize at the 2013 Bavarian TV Awards for his performance, as well as a German Television Award and Emmy Award.
Liv Lisa Fries won considerable acclaim in the Ard film “She Deserved it”, where she plays the aggressive teenager Linda who tortures her classmate to death. She was awarded the 2012 Golden Camera as Best Young Actress for her convincing performance, and also won the 2011 Günter Strack Television Award.
The chief editors of "Babylon Berlin" are Christine Strobl, Sascha Schwingel, and Carolin Haasis (Ard Degeto), Gebhard Henke and Caren Toenissen (Wdr), and Marcus Ammon and Frank Jastfelder (Sky Deutschland). The producers for X Filme are Stefan Arndt, Uwe Schott, and Michael Polle.
The project is sponsored by Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, Creative Europe Media, and the Nrw Film and Media Foundation.
- 2/19/2016
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
The 16-part TVseries Babylon Berlin is based on Volker Kutscher’s bestselling crime thrillers.
Volker Bruch and Liv Lisa Fries are to star in lead roles for Babylon Berlin, the most ambitious German TV production to date, based on Volker Kutscher’s internationally bestselling historical crime thrillers set in the Berlin of the Roaring Twenties.
Cast as the police inspector Gereon Rath, Bruch is already known for appearances in the internationally successful German TV series Generation War as well as such feature films The Reader, Young Goethe and Tour De Force, while Fries - as the shorthand typist Charlotte - has credits including The Wave, Boy 7 and Und Morgen Mittag Bin Ich Tot.
Tom Tykwer is serving as showrunner for the high-end 16-part series which he will direct with co-authors Hendrik Handloegten and Achim von Boerries.
Speaking on the eve of this year’s Berlinale, Tykwer revealed that this would be the first time he had...
Volker Bruch and Liv Lisa Fries are to star in lead roles for Babylon Berlin, the most ambitious German TV production to date, based on Volker Kutscher’s internationally bestselling historical crime thrillers set in the Berlin of the Roaring Twenties.
Cast as the police inspector Gereon Rath, Bruch is already known for appearances in the internationally successful German TV series Generation War as well as such feature films The Reader, Young Goethe and Tour De Force, while Fries - as the shorthand typist Charlotte - has credits including The Wave, Boy 7 and Und Morgen Mittag Bin Ich Tot.
Tom Tykwer is serving as showrunner for the high-end 16-part series which he will direct with co-authors Hendrik Handloegten and Achim von Boerries.
Speaking on the eve of this year’s Berlinale, Tykwer revealed that this would be the first time he had...
- 2/10/2016
- by screen.berlin@googlemail.com (Martin Blaney)
- ScreenDaily
Cologne – Sky Deutschland, the German pay-tv group controlled by Rupert Murdoch's 21st Century Fox, has extended its rights deal with European soccer body UEFA for top soccer tournament the Champions League through 2018. The deal, announced Monday by Sky Sports boss Carsten Schmidt Monday, will give Sky rights to the Champions League in Germany across all platforms, including online and mobile, for three years from the 2015 to 2018 seasons. The European club tournament is one of the most popular live sporting events in the world. This year's final, between the two German sides Borussia Dortmund and eventual
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- 12/9/2013
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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