Alpha TV

By the late 2000s, the Greek television market was one of the most competitive in Europe, led by three private full-service broadcasters, with a strong audience appetite for entertainment formats. From 2008, conditions tightened sharply on two fronts. The global financial crisis and the unfolding sovereign debt crisis affected Greece more severely than any other European market, with the advertising market contracting by over 50 per cent in the years that followed.

At the same time, relations between Greece and its main creditor countries, Germany in particular, entered a politically and socially charged phase. In this environment, RTL Group acquired the majority stake in Alpha TV, the country’s third-largest private broadcaster, in 2008. On the corporate side, the synergy and performance expectations of RTL Group and its Bertelsmann ownership met the specific dynamics of the Greek market and its players. The previous owner remained as a significant minority shareholder, with his own perspective on the broadcaster’s Greek identity and long-standing relationships across the local production and talent landscape.

Working in RTL Group’s strategy function in Luxembourg, Bakel Walden had previously helped prepare the market entry. From 2009, he led programming strategy, format development and scheduling at Alpha TV in Athens, and from 2010 the consolidation of these functions under one leadership. In the first quarter of 2012, he served as Interim Program Director, taking on extended programming responsibility during the period of RTL Group’s exit from the Greek market.

• Programming reform with a clear profile: Repositioning Alpha TV as a family-oriented entertainment broadcaster, anchored in real-life formats, strong local brands and internationally adapted formats, supported by a launch budget of around EUR 4 million for new programming
• Building a structured programming function: Establishing an interdisciplinary team across programming strategy, format development, acquisition and scheduling, introducing a consolidated reporting and forecasting system for audience performance and programming costs, with daily scheduling automated
• Aligning stakeholders within the group architecture: Designing the reporting and coordination lines with RTL Group headquarters in Luxembourg, embedding Alpha TV in RTL Group’s international format pipeline and cross-country programming exchange, and translating corporate performance expectations into operational programming decisions
• Bridging corporate logic and local anchoring: Working closely with the local minority shareholder and his network across the Greek production and talent landscape, keeping the broadcaster’s Greek identity visible in programming and casting, respecting long-standing local relationships while establishing transparent performance and competence criteria as the basis for team development
• Building industry relationships: Developing and sustaining strong relationships with leading Greek production companies and talent as the foundation for an independent format development pipeline, complemented by selective international expertise from the RTL Group network

The repositioning of Alpha TV reached audiences in a measurable and immediate way. In the 2009/10 season, Alpha became the fastest-growing broadcaster in the Greek market and established itself firmly among the country’s three most-watched channels. Several new formats, including local brands such as “Kafes me tin Eleni” and “Al Tsantiri News” and international adaptations such as “Greek Idol” and “Come Dine With Me”, reached audience shares between 20 and over 50 per cent in the commercial target group.

• A sharpened programming identity: Alpha TV established itself in the Greek media landscape as a clearly profiled family-oriented entertainment broadcaster, recognised by industry and audiences alike as the standout performer of the 2009/10 season
• A viable programming and stakeholder architecture: From previously fragmented structures emerged a programming and operating logic that aligned corporate reporting, local ownership interests, team performance and external relationships under a shared direction, even under the crisis conditions of the Greek advertising market
• Impact beyond the ownership phase: In 2012, with the Greek advertising market down by more than 50 per cent, RTL Group sold Alpha Media Group back to its previous local owner. The programming and structural repositioning of the broadcaster carried through beyond the ownership phase and was publicly acknowledged by the incoming owner.