Troubled German media group, EM.TV lost its second high-ranking executive on Friday after its supervisory board chairman Nikolaus Becker tendered his resignation following the deal between EM.TV and the KirchGroup on February14.

Rumours had been circulating for weeks about the possibility of Becker resigning from the beleaguered company and the allegedly deteriorating relations between him and CEO Thomas Haffa. His name had also been linked with media mogul Herbert Kloiber (whose Tele-Muenchen Group is still 45% owned by EM.TV) as part of a rival bid to save EM.TV which would have ousted the KirchGroup from negotiations.

Previously, Haffa's brother, then EM.TV's chief financial officer, Florian Haffa, resigned in December after issuing a profit warning only weeks after having stated that earnings were not in danger.

In an official communique, Haffa declared that, "unfortunately", he had not been able to get Becker to change his decision and thanked him for his "extraordinary commitment".

"His resignation shows that for Dr Becker the well-being of EM.TV and its shareholders is more important than holding onto a chair. It will be difficult to find a successor his equal", Haffa stated.