Wouter Vandenhaute

Last updated
Wouter Vandenhaute
Born (1962-02-16) 16 February 1962 (age 60)
Ghent
NationalityBelgian
Alma mater
Occupations
Known for
SpouseCatherine Van Eylen (married)

Wouter Vandenhaute (born 16 February 1962) is a Belgian Entrepreneur, Television producer and former sports-journalist. He is currently managing director of the Belgian media holding De Vijver, which includes the TV production company Woestijnvis and TV channel VIER. Vandenhaute married VRT sports journalist Catherine Van Eylen.

Contents

Biography

Wouter Vandenhaute was born in Ghent, the son of Godelieve Kiebooms and Gerard Vandenhaute. [1] His grandfather was Louis Kiebooms, who was editor of the Gazet van Antwerpen for more than 10 years. In the early 1980s Vandenhaute studied physical education at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. [2] After graduating, he went as a journalist to work for the weekly magazine HUMO, the newspaper De Morgen and as a sports editor of the then BRT. At BRT he worked with colleagues like Mark Uytterhoeven and Carl Huybrechts, contributing to the TV program Sportweekend. He also presented the sports news in Het Journal.

In the early 1990s, Vandenhaute presented with Uytterhoeven the comedy talk show Het huis van wantrouwen [The House of distrust]. Between 1992 and 1995, after Het huis van wantrouwen had finished Vandenhaute went to pay channel Filmnet as a football commentator.

Woestijnvis and De Vijver

In 1997 Vandenhaute founded together with Jan and Erik Huyse Watté the production Woestijnvis, that initially exclusively made programs for VRT. Thanks to TV personalities such as Uytterhoeven, Rob Vanoudenhoven, Tom Lenaerts and Bart De Pauw, and TV shows like Man bijt hond [Man bites dog], de Mol and Alles Kan Beter [Everything Will Better], Woestijnvis grew into one of the most successful production companies in Flanders. In 2000, De Mol was awarded the prestigious Rose d'Or of Montreux. The program was further sold to about 50 countries.

In 2000, then called Vlaamse uitgeversmaatschappij (VUM) became a twenty percent shareholder in Woestijnvis. That year the production company brought the Bonanza weekly magazine. The magazine flopped and was closed after only thirty editions. In the field of television programs Vandenhautes production company experienced continued success through the turn of the century with episodes of the quiz program De Pappenheimers and De Slimste Mens ter Wereld [The Smartest Person in the World], regularly reached more than one million viewers. Even fiction series like Het eiland [The Island], De Parelvissers [The Pearl Fishers] and Van vlees en bloed [Of flesh and blood] were a success. In 2005 Vandenhaute was nominated for Manager of the Year by the financial-economic magazine Trends. The prize eventually went to Jan Callewaert.

In 2010, the exclusivity contract between VRT and Woestijnvis was not renewed. [3] That year Vandenhaute was made CEO of De Vijver, the holding company whose properties included Woestijnvis, 49 percent of the Humo magazine. [4]

In 2011, De Vijver purchased with Corelio and Sanoma Media TV channels VT4 and VIJFtv for an amount estimated between 100 and 150 million. After the acquisition VT4 was renamed VIER [Four] and VIJFtv to VIJF [Five]. In 2012 with purchase complete, Woestijnvis on air talent and programs were transferred to VIER. In 2014, Sanoma share in De Vijver was sold to Telenet, which became one of the three shareholders of the holding company. [5] As a term of the deal, the weekly magazine Humo again became wholly owned by Sanoma. [6] In 2015, Vandenhaute was made chairman of the board of directors of De Vijver and therefore quit as CEO of the holding company. [7]

Other projects

In 2009, Vandenhaute who is an avid cycling fan, bought Flemish cycling classics like the Tour of Flanders and the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad. A year later he founded Flanders Classics. [8] Since then Flanders Classics is responsible for the organization of six Flemish cycling classics (Tour of Flanders, Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, Gent–Wevelgem, Dwars door Vlaanderen, Scheldeprijs and Brabantse Pijl).

In 2011 Vandenhaute endured much criticism when he announced that would be removing the climb of the Muur van Geraardsbergen from the route of the Tour of Flanders. [9]

Vandenhaute is also a supporter of football club RSC Anderlecht. [10] In 2009 it became known that he was even in the picture as a shareholder of the football club. In January 2021 he succeeded Marc Coucke as chairman of RSC Anderlecht. [11]

Vandenhaute is owner of the restaurant Couvert Couvert in Egenhoven (Heverlee). In November 2005, the restaurant received a Michelin star. He is also good friends with the Belgian chef Geert Van Hecke. He is a member of the advisory board of the Itinera Institute think-tank.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">VRT (broadcaster)</span> Belgian national broadcaster for the Flemish community

The VRT, is the national public-service broadcaster for the Flemish Community of Belgium.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Belgian Cup</span> Football tournament

The Belgian Cup is the main knockout football competition in Belgium, run by the Royal Belgian FA. The competition started in 1908 with provincial selections as the "Belgian Provinces Cup". Starting from 1912 only actual clubs were allowed to partake. As of 1964, the Belgian Cup has been organised annually. Since the 2015–16 edition, the Belgian Cup is called the Croky Cup, for sponsorship purposes. The final traditionally takes place at the Heysel Stadium in Brussels.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Telenet (provider)</span> Largest provider of cable broadband services in Belgium

Telenet Group N.V. is the largest provider of cable broadband services in Belgium. Its business comprises the provision of analog and digital cable television, fixed and mobile telephone services, primarily to residential customers in Flanders and Brussels. In addition, Telenet offers services to business customers all across Belgium and in Luxembourg under its brand Telenet Solutions.

Miss Belgium is a national beauty pageant in Belgium. The winner of Miss Belgium automatically represents her country at the Miss World and Miss Universe pageants if the dates do not overlap.

Woestijnvis is an independent Flemish television production company based in Vilvoorde.

Mediahuis is a newspaper & magazine publishing, distribution, printing, TV, radio and online media company founded in 2014 with assets in Belgium, the Netherlands, Ireland, Luxembourg and Germany. Mediahuis publishes daily newspaper titles in Belgium, the Netherlands and Ireland as well as regional titles, and is involved in broadcasting a number of Dutch and French language TV and radio stations.

Alles Kan Beter was a Belgian comedy TV series produced by Flemish production house Woestijnvis between the end of 1997 and 1999. It was broadcast on the public TV channel Canvas, directed by Jan Eelen and starred TV presenter Mark Uytterhoeven, chief editor of HUMO Guy Mortier and the newcomer on television at that time Rob Vanoudenhoven as regular hosts. The fourth presenter was a different guest every week. The program was a combination of humoristic commentary on archive footage taped from the Flemish TV channels VRT and its rival vtm and sketches starring the four hosts. The show achieved cult status and is still repeated regularly.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mark Uytterhoeven</span> Belgian television presenter, TV script writer, actor, comedian and former sports journalist

Mark Uytterhoeven is a Belgian television presenter, TV scriptwriter, actor, comedian and former sports journalist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hein Vanhaezebrouck</span> Belgian football manager and former player

Hein Vanhaezebrouck is a Belgian football manager who is currently leading K.A.A. Gent in the Belgian First Division A. He has a reputation of favouring an offensive style of play.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Denis Odoi</span> Ghanaian footballer (born 1988)

Denis Frimpong Odoi is a professional footballer who plays for Belgian First Division A side Club Brugge. A right-footed full-back who can play on both sides, he is nicknamed the Professor because of his maturity and discipline on the field of play. Born in Belgium, and a one-time representative of the Belgium national team, he represents the Ghana national team.

The mass media in Belgium is characterized by its diversity due to the linguistic divide in the country.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Goedele Liekens</span> Belgian model and psychologist (born 1963)

Goedele Maria Gertrude Liekens is a Belgian politician, sexologist and television presenter, currently serving as a member of the Belgian Chamber of Representatives for the party Open VLD, to which she was elected in 2019.

Wij, Heren van Zichem was a Flemish TV drama series, originally broadcast between 1969 and 1972 in 26 episodes on the BRT. The program was based on several novels by Ernest Claes, who died just a few months before the show first aired. All episodes were shot in the Flemish village Zichem. At the time it was one of the most popular TV series in Flanders, attracting almost 2,960,000 viewers which is about 3/4 of all Flemish people. Tourism to the village boomed, while it hardly had enough bars, let alone restaurants to accommodate the tourists. In a 2004 interview with Het Nieuwsblad actor Fons Exelmans remembered that tourists were often confused because certain houses and buildings were located less close to each other than in the series. The actors were also invited to appear during annual festivities as promotional stunts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michel II Government</span>

The Michel II Government was the Federal Government of Belgium, led by Prime Minister Charles Michel from 18 December 2018 until 27 October 2019 when it was succeeded by the Wilmès I Government. It was a centre minority coalition cabinet of Christian Democratic and Flemish (CD&V), the Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats and the Reformist Movement (MR). On 26 October 2019, it was announced that Sophie Wilmès would take over the role of Prime Minister from Michel on 1 November 2019, and form a new government.

The Masked Singer is a Belgian reality singing competition television series based on the Masked Singer franchise which originated from the South Korean version of the show King of Mask Singer. It premiered on VTM on 18 September 2020, and is hosted by Niels Destadsbader. The winner of the first series was Sandra Kim. The winner of the second series was Camille Dhont.

<i>Big Brother</i> (Dutch and Belgian TV series) Dutch version of Big Brother

Big Brother is the Dutch & Belgian cooperation version of the international reality television franchise Big Brother produced by Endemol. The show aired in Netherlands on RTL5 and in the Flemish Region of VIER/Play4 and has had a total of two seasons. The first season of the show aired in 2021.

The Ha! van Humo is a yearly award offered since 1980 by the Flemish magazine Humo to the best television show of the year. The winner, chosen from 10 nominees, receives 5,000 Euro and a sculpted "H". In the first years, the show has also been given a few times to a TV maker and to a radio show instead of a television show. In 1997 and 2014 there were 2 winners, in 2012 no award was presented.

Man bijt hond is a long-running Flemish TV programme. The show aired in Flanders and the Netherlands, with separate versions for each country. The Flemish version aired from 1997 to 2013, whilst the Netherlands version originally aired from 1999 to 2015, with a revival airing since 2019.

This is a list of the main association football rivalries in Belgium.

Big Brother 2021 is the first cooperation season of the Dutch and Belgian version of Big Brother. It is the seventh regular version of Big Brother in both Belgium and the Netherlands. The show is broadcast on RTL5 in the Netherlands and VIER in Belgium beginning on 3 January 2021. Live streams are available 24/7 on Videoland for Dutch viewers and on VIER(later GoPlay.be) and Telenet for Belgian viewers.

References

  1. ↑ Vandenhaute Family Tree Telenet.be, 28 January 2017
  2. ↑ Wouter Vandenhaute CV Vacature.com, 28 January 2017
  3. ↑ Woestijnvis niet meer uitsluitend bij de VRT Het Laatste Nieuws, 29 January 2017
  4. ↑ Woestijnvis verwerft deel Humo Het Nieuwsblad, 28 January 2017
  5. ↑ Telenet wordt mede-eigenaar van VIER en VIJF Trends, 28 January 2017
  6. ↑ Ding-dong-dienstmededeling! Humo komt weer in handen van Sanoma Humo, 28 January 2017
  7. ↑ Wouter Vandenhaute verandert van functie Knack Focus, 28 January 2017
  8. ↑ Flanders Classics vernieuwt voorjaar flandersclassics.be, 28 January 2017
  9. ↑ Wouter Vandenhaute: 'De koers is gratis. Ik vind dat vreemd' Het Nieuwsblad, 28 January 2017
  10. ↑ Woestijnvis houdt van Anderlecht Sport.be, 28 January 2017
  11. ↑ "Le conseil d'administration nomme officiellement Wouter Vandenhaute à la présidence du RSC Anderlecht". La Libre (in French). 6 January 2021. Retrieved 29 August 2021.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.