Alex Berger (born ) is a producer, creator, consultant and entrepreneur in the media field.

Biography

Childhood and family

He was born March 22, 1962, in Philadelphia in the US. He is the son of Francine Dreyfus-Berger, a French painter and Dr. Joseph Berger, PhD. In 1972, he moved to France with his parents and his sister Sylvie Berger. After a French schooling, he briefly studied at the University of Pennsylvania, then lived between the US and Europe. He currently lives in Paris, with his wife and their three children.

Invention of Vizzavi

In 1997, Alex Berger invents the multi-access web portal Vizzavi, which consists of enabling premium content to travel seamlessly between all of the subscribers and their services and devices ( Canal+ pay TV and CanalSatellite pay channels, AOL Europe subscribers, SFR mobile subscribers, Numéricâble subscribers.)... This system named Vizzavi, was co-owned by

Vodafone Vodafone Group Public Limited Company () is a British Multinational company, multinational telecommunications company. Its registered office and global headquarters are in Newbury, Berkshire, England. It predominantly operates Service (economic ...

under the name Vodafone Live. service.

CanalNumedia & VivendiNet

In 1998, Berger founded and became the first CEO of CanalNumedia and all the gaming activities of the group (2nd worldwide) and football, cinema and photography sites. In 1999 he founded and became the co-CEO of

Vivendi Vivendi SE (stylized in all lowercase) is a French investment company headquartered in Paris. It currently wholly-owns Gameloft as well as a number of investments in several companies, primarily involved in content, entertainment, media, and t ...

Universal Universal is the adjective for universe. Universal may also refer to: Companies * NBCUniversal, a media and entertainment company that is a subsidiary of Comcast ** Universal Animation Studios, an American Animation studio, and a subsidiary of N ...

Net (VivendiNet) along with Franck Boulben. VivendiNet regrouped all digital contents of: *Canal+/CanalNumedia (sports and cinema websites and

Allociné AlloCiné is an entertainment website founded by Jean-David Blanc in 1988, then joined by Patrick Holzman. It has belonged to the company since 2013 Webedia. which specializes in providing information on French cinema, mostly centering on nove ...

*Havas with all of its publications and digital assets such as Scoot, bonjour !, 01.net, la Vie Financière * (SFR) and Vizzavi *All the venture capital funds (Viventures) and the incubator @VISO co-owned 50/50 with SOFTBANK

Vivendi, Universal & Canal+ merge

Once approved by Jean Marie Messier and

Pierre Lescure Pierre Lescure (; born ) is a French journalist and television executive. He is known for having founded the French TV music show ''Les Enfants du rock'' broadcast on public television from 1981 to 1988 and for having led the French Canal+ cha ...

, Alex Berger initiated the discussions with Universal. With the help of

Terry Semel Terence Steven Semel (born February 24, 1943) is an American corporate executive who was the chairman and CEO of Yahoo! Incorporated from 2001 to 2007. Previously, he spent 24 years at Warner Bros., where he served as chairman and co-chief exec ...

, former CEO of

Warner Brothers Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...

, they approached

Edgar Bronfman Jr Edgar Miles Bronfman Jr. (born May 16, 1955) is an American businessman, filmmaker, theater producer, and media executive who is a managing partner at Accretive LLC. He previously was CEO of Warner Music Group from 2004 to 2011, and was its chair ...

, CEO of

Seagram The Seagram Company Ltd. (which trade name, traded as Seagram's) was a Canadian multinational beverage and during the last few years of its existence, entertainment Conglomerate (company), conglomerate formerly headquartered in Montreal, Quebec. ...

, owned by

. This strategy led to Vivendi, Universal and Canal+ to merge in June 2000. After the merger was finalised in June 2000, Alex Berger was at a strategic position between Vivendi-Universal CEO Jean-Marie Messier and Canal+ Group CEO Pierre Lescure, head of content and digital. Internal politics and infighting raging, Alex Berger decided to leave Canal+ group in September 2000.

Berger Report (2019)

On a new organisation for scripted drama series in France Alex Berger was asked to write a report for the CNC (Centre National du Cinéma et de l’Image Animée- French National Center for Cinema and Animation) on a new organisation of scripted drama in France. The report was commissioned by the CNC to show what and how should be changed in the French market to meet the standards as well as needs in this golden age of scripted drama. The report puts in perspective the changes that need to be made within paradigm shift with the rise of the digital platforms, and how this affects the way of developing, producing and distributing TV series, taking Le Bureau des Légendes/The Bureau as an example. https://www.cnc.fr/documents/36995/976401/Rapport+Berger+sur+une+nouvelle+organisation+de+la+fiction+s%C3%A9rielle+en+France.pdf/9737716b-6a6a-7537-8a41-e31100a75be9

Television appearance

In 1992, he interpreted the character of Jean-Robert Günther in on

TF1 TF1 (; standing for ''Télévision Française 1'') is a French commercial television network owned by TF1 Group, controlled by the Bouygues conglomerate. TF1's average market share of 24% makes it the most popular domestic network. TF1 is part ...

, the first show of the TV presenter

Arthur Arthur is a masculine given name of uncertain etymology. Its popularity derives from it being the name of the legendary hero King Arthur. A common spelling variant used in many Slavic, Romance, and Germanic languages is Artur. In Spanish and Ital ...

on television. In 1994, he made an appearance on

Canal+ Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flo ...

in the very last sketch of the show in of

Antoine de Caunes Antoine de Caunes (born 1 December 1953) is a French television presenter, comedian, actor, journalist, writer and film director. He is the son of two prominent French personalities, television journalist-reporter Georges de Caunes and televis ...

and José Garcia. With the humoristic group Les Nuls as a guest on the set, he made a parody of one of them,

Dominique Farrugia Dominique Farrugia (born 2 September 1962) is a French actor, film director, screenwriter, producer, humorist and comedian. He is a member and founder of the group of comedians '' Les Nuls'' alongside Alain Chabat, Chantal Lauby and Bruno Car ...

Cinema appearance

Alex Berger interpreted the character of Caius Tchounus Mogulus, in Astérix et Obélix: Mission Cléopâtre of

Alain Chabat Alain Chabat (; born 24 November 1958) is a French actor, comedian, director, screenwriter, producer and television presenter. Originally known for his work in the comedy group Les Nuls, including as the co-writer and lead actor of ''La Cité de ...