ServusTV parts ways with Program Director Goetz Hoefer

ServusTV did not comment on the reasons for the release. According to SN information, however, the decision is said to be a purely personnel one and not connected to any misconduct. Hoefer had been released, it was said in a statement from the broadcaster.

Background to the personnel decision

Hoefer moved to ServusTV in 2023. Prior to that, he had held the managing directorship of Spiegel TV GmbH from 2016 to 2021. Before that, from 2015 he ran his own consulting firm in Hamburg called Elbstone Management GmbH. In the 2021/2022 season, he also worked as COO at the Swiss company Ella Media AG, which deals, among other things, with AI applications. Hoefer began his career in 1997 at the German publishing house Bauer, where he served as Division Manager for New Media. He was also active as Managing Director of Studio Hamburg Berlin Brandenburg GmbH.

Speculation that Hoefer could succeed the long-serving Director General Ferdinand Wegscheider at the top of ServusTV had previously not materialized. Following Wegscheider's departure, ServusTV has, according to its own statements, three executives from Red Bull Media who report to Dietmar Otti. Otti heads the media activities as Global Head of Media within the Servus Medien brand.

Career stations of Goetz Hoefer

The owner of the channel is Red Bull. The media activities are bundled under the Servus Medien brand. As early as October 2025, ServusTV had announced a new leadership structure for its media activities. Neither Hoefer nor ServusTV commented, when asked by DER STANDARD, on the background to the parting of ways.

The Salzburg-based private broadcaster ServusTV responded on Wednesday to the Salzburger Nachrichten's query with a brief confirmation of the release. Details regarding the successor or the future structure of the Program Directorate were initially not provided. A request to Goetz Hoefer himself also went unanswered, according to DER STANDARD.

Leadership structure at ServusTV

With the parting of ways from Hoefer, the channel loses a manager who in recent years had taken on both operational and strategic tasks in the programming and editorial areas. The change comes at a phase in which ServusTV is anyway reorganizing its leadership structures and redefining the interfaces between editorial, program planning, and Red Bull Media.

The reports about the personnel decision were first published on 24 June 2026 by the Salzburger Nachrichten. The author of the report was Harald Fidler. The broadcaster's confirmation came on the same day. Observers see the parting of ways as part of the ongoing restructuring processes at the Salzburg-based channel; it remains open who will take over the Program Directorate in the future.

Hoefer had switched several times in his career between operational leadership roles and consulting activities. In addition to stints at Spiegel TV and Studio Hamburg, he gained experience in the field of artificial intelligence at Ella Media AG. His LinkedIn profile continues to list him as Program Director, even though, according to ServusTV, he has been released.