Ruediger Boess, Head of Acquisitions,
ProSiebenSat.1 Media, Germany
 No stranger to the global media community, Ruediger Boess began his career as a newspaper editor, moving over to radio management before joining Germany's Pro Sieben some ten years ago. Currently serving as head of acquisitions for the ProSieben Sat.1 Media group, the main challenger to Bertelsmann's RTL Group in Germany, Boess is responsible for acquiring feature films, television series and animation programming for the three networks operated by the company, 72% of which was recently acquired by Haim Saban's PS71 company.
Not only is Boess faced with a broad acquisitions brief, the three networks he's responsible for cover a wide spectrum of audience tastes. ProSieben, for example, attracts a male orientated 14 to 49 audience, with its key demo being males 14 to 29. Sat.1 offers a variety of family programming and skews to a more female dominated audience in the 14 to 49 age group, while focusing on the 20 to 49 demographic group. Kabel 1, which offers the best of feature films and classic television series, draws a key demo of 25 to 60+, according to Boess.
Boess says that he uses the internet and trade publications to stay abreast of the onslaught of new production around the world, and also sites conference and markets such NATPE, Mifed and the American Film Market as valuable sources for both programming and information. Based on the ProSieben audience profile, Boess says, "We're really focusing on American programming, which is still popular with German audiences providing it's good and not too American." Boess uses Seinfeld as an example of a series which is very good and very funny, but too New York and perhaps a bit too sophisticated to work for his ProSieben audience. West Wing is another example, says Boess, "of a very good series that hasn't sold into Germany because of its focus on American politics. Friends, on the other hand, can be translated both in language and environment, and thus draws very good ratings." It's this type of universally appealing American programming that he's looking for at NATPE.
Although Boess felt last year's event in New Orleans was "not very effective…I think the way NATPE is organized in Las Vegas, with the major distributors all located in the Venetian and working for three days, it will be better."
Boess says he makes a few appointments with distributors in advance of arriving at NATPE. And since he is doing business throughout the year, he doesn't come to NATPE with any particular expectations. "I'm looking at what the distributors are planning for mid-season, what the networks are doing regarding replacing the shows that didn't work and what trends are emerging in the US," says Boess. "And of course, to see the people that we've been dealing with over the internet or telephone for the past year."
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