ProSiebenSat.1 PULS 4

Pig Proposes Bad Bank and Partnerships for ORF

Clemens Pig, the incoming general director of Austria's public broadcaster ORF, outlined plans including a virtual "bad bank" to isolate legal cases and past scandals, potential headcount reductions, and a call to constitutionally secure the broadcasting fee. Pig also signalled a shift toward formal cooperation with platforms such as Joyn, proposing revenue-sharing and licence contracts so ORF content on third-party services is paid and legally anchored. Separately, the Vienna public prosecutor chose not to open criminal proceedings in the Pius Strobl pension case. Media-business moves reported include Kronen Zeitung managing director Gerhard Valeskini leaving at the end of September and Puls 4 and Joyn obtaining sublicensed rights to transmit 26 US Open matches under a media partnership with DOSB New Media GmbH and Sportdeutschland.TV.

ORF in Crisis: Board Chair Heinz Lederer Under Fire

A governance crisis at Austria’s public broadcaster ORF intensified after a 15-hour foundation council session elected Clemens Pig as the new general director. Criticism centers on Heinz Lederer, chair of ORF’s foundation council, who is accused of political partiality and potential conflicts of interest because he also runs a PR and consulting agency and chairs an SPÖ-aligned friends circle. The controversy followed the sudden exit of former ORF director Roland Weißmann amid accusations of sexual harassment that an internal ORF probe later found not legally sustainable; Weißmann disputes that he left voluntarily and a legal dispute is ongoing. ORF journalists publicly issued a vote of no confidence in Lederer and his deputy Gregor Schütze. Lederer has also publicly pushed for an ORF-led national streaming platform, attacking the commercial streamer Joyn.

ServusTV Big World Cup Winner; ORF III Staff Warn

ServusTV and ORF 1 were the clear TV winners during the World Cup in June, with ServusTV more than doubling its usual audience to 10.7% market share overall (14.2% among 12–49) and ORF 1 reaching 14.0% (16.7% among 12–49). ServusTV’s Austria–Spain match attracted about 2.30 million viewers and record market shares. Personnel shifts include Patrick Schubert leaving ProSiebenSat.1Puls4 to join ServusTV as Head of Editorial TV from 1 October 2026. ServusTV also secured a sublicence deal with Eurosport to show six Tour de France stages per year, including 2027. Meanwhile ORF III staff published an open letter warning against severe cuts to the culture channel amid speculation about halving its roughly €15 million program budget. ORF-Enterprise is now led interimistically by Matthias Seiringer after the departure of advertising chief Oliver Böhm; Clemens Pig is confirmed as incoming ORF general director from 1 January 2027.