Deutsche Telekom TV chief moves to Cinetrade role

Wolfgang Elsaßer

Swisscom-affiliated films rights and content company Cinetrade has named Deutsche Telekom’s TV and entertainment chief Wolfgang Elsaßer as its new CEO.

Elsaßer will replace Wilfried Heinzelmann, who has decided to step down from operational management as of July.

Elsaßer, who previously held senior roles at Grundig, Sky Deutschland predecessor Premiere World and SES Astra, took over as head of TV and entertainment at Deutsche Telekom in 2016, where he was responsible for opening up Telekom’s offering to also include third-party content from providers such as Netflix or Amazon and improving its offering for OTT customers, as well as launching free-to-view on-demand offering Megathek.

“Wolfgang Elsäsßer is a proven content and TV expert whom we are very fortunate to be bringing on board,” says Swisscom CEO and Chairman of the Cinetrade Board of Directors, Urs Schaeppi.

Elsäßer said, “I am very much looking forward to shaping the further growth of the entertainment business together with the Swisscom and Cinetrade teams. It’s an exciting entrepreneurial challenge.”