RTL Hungary appoints CEO and deputy

Pan-European broadcast group RTL has appointed a permanent CEO and vice-CEO at RTL Hungary following a turbulent period at its operation in the country.

Gabriella Vidus (left) steps up from general manager of ad sales Hungary to country CEO and programming director Péter Kolosi is upped to deputy CEO.

Kolosi will remain in control of programming at the core RTL Klub service and the seven cable channels RTL runs in the country.

RTL has butted heads with the Hungarian government in recent years, with the Luxembourg-based channel operator openly critical of the the government-levied advertising taxes that have affected the RTL Klub channel.

Long-serving CEO Dirk Gerkens left his position in March, amid claims he had received death threats over RTL’s position on the advertising tax. Andreas Rudas was appointed interim CEO and will remain on the RTL board in his position as executive VP, regional operations and business development CEE and Asia.

Rudas said: “Gabriella Vidus has been instrumental in making our family of channels the clear market leader in the Hungarian advertising market and in transforming our sales house R-time into an efficient and flexible service provider.

“She is deeply familiar with RTL Group, our management culture and the international TV industry. Her vision and dynamic leadership make her an excellent choice to open a new chapter in RTL Hungary’s growth story.”

Speaking about Kolosi’s new role, he added: “With his programming skills and sense for new trends, he has been a key force in growing our audience leadership and building a strong, highly complementary family of channels. I am delighted we can appoint such a young and dynamic leadership duo from our local management team.”

Vidus has been at RTL since 2002 and Kolosi since 1997.