p32-34,36-38,40-46,48 Euro50 NovDec09v4 9/11/09 14:22 Page 40
Euro 50 > Leaders in broadband and pay-TV Digital TV Europe
November/December 2009
Duco Sickinghe CEO Telenet
The widely admired Flemish cable operator he worked as a European channel develop- challenges. Our Telenet Shakes bundles, whilst
Telenet has emerged as one of the key exam- ment manager on the expansion of distribu- not very revolutionary are to-date apparently
ples of ‘best practice’ for operators across tion via dealers and distributors. At NeXT hard to copy and we also saw a rapid expan-
Europe. Computer, he became the vice-president in sion of the take-up of HD boxes and channels.
Telenet has successfully marketed triple- charge of European marketing and later the The acquisition of a retail chain to expand dis-
play and digital pay-TV services under its managing director of NeXT Computer France. tribution and ‘customer proximity’ was another
‘Shakes’ brand concept and has looked to He had the opportunity to work closely with highlight. We also extended our light MVNO
develop mobile services as a key fourth ele- the team that earlier invented the Apple agreement with Mobistar into a full agreement
ment to the service bundle. Computer. With a colleague of NeXT, and it took a cable company to launch mobile
CEO Duco Sickinghe has worked for Sickinghe founded Software Direct which handset subsidies in Belgium! Our awesome
almost 20 years in the technology and turned later into a joint venture with Hachette business-to-business team continues to gener-
media industry. Under his leadership at Distribution in Paris. The mission was to propel ate growth when many incumbents see a con-
Telenet, the customer base has grown from the distribution of software in the retail market traction and we also continued our focus on
12,000 to over 1,200,000. before the advent of the internet. Sickinghe sustainability and green issues on a perma-
then moved back to the Netherlands to work nent basis.
Age 51 for Wolters-Kluwer, a multi-national publisher
of professional information. In 2001, Sickinghe Lessons learned from the downturn Keep
Education Masters in Law, Utrecht University; joined Telenet as CEO. focusing on customers and customer satisfac-
MBA, Columbia, New York. tion. People are more sensitive so we need to
Job description CEO of Telenet. accommodate more. Also, free-to-air broad-
Career path Duco Sickinghe started with casters have not changed their business model
Hewlett-Packard in Finance. He then moved to Highlights from the last year The amazing for many years and find themselves in a very
Germany to run European product marketing growth for Telenet in broadband, interactive tough spot. I’m not sure their revenue streams
for the LaserJet printer series. Finally at HP, digital TV, despite economic and competitive will easily come back.
Last year’s most important development
The launch of Hulu and many other over-the-
top video services. I’m surprised that Hulu
seems to be pondering a radical turn around
by linking access to its service to cable or DSL
subscriptions.
Goals for the next year To drive digital TV
penetration at a high rate, giving all citizen
access to the new world. To launch new servic-
es on our digital TV platform with local media
partners and make Flanders’ broadest and
fastest internet highway that’s relevant for our
customers. To work on a seamless fixed and
mobile experience at home and to ensure
that service should become a long term differ-
entiator.
Favourite TV character Jack Shephard in
Lost – he keeps on going to reach his goals, is
soft on his team but tough on the world.
Life outside work Time spent with my family,
discussing and doing things with my daughters
and sons, including work on a tree house with
my son…that will never be finished. Sailing
and keeping small boats in good order.
Visit us at at www.digitaltveurope.net
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