Controlling deutscher TV-Sender — Aufgaben, Instrumente und Probleme in der Praxis

Summary “Management Control” or “Controlling” (as it is usually called in German management literature), is a frequently discussed management function in the research concerning German TV-stations, usually as a transfer of existing controlling concepts to TV-management. This paper sketches a model for the analysis of the particular business fields TV-stations engage in and presents empirical results of a recent study about TV-controlling in Germany. It examines the participation, use of instruments and problems of controlling in the business fields “Development and Production of Audiovisual Material” and “Programming”. TV-companies differ considerably from industrial production or service companies in these two areas. The results suggest that the level of TV-controlling is still rather low. Controllers in German TV-stations mainly manage the planning- and budgeting systems, but also act increasingly as internal consultants for program-management. The dominant problems appear to be the establishment and acceptance of controlling as well as methodical difficulties of TV-accounting. The different business missions and -systems of public and commercial stations are reflected accordingly by their controlling-systems. This suggests controlling to be tightly connected to value-adding processes instead of being merely a management service.