Premiere/arena German soccer deal - including English PL!

[BGonaSTICK]

This has implications for English Premier League - Please read if that interests you!

Pay-TV broadcaster Premiere will get to broadcast live Bundesliga soccer games under a deal approved by cartel authorities just weeks before premier-league action resumes in Germany.

Germany's cartel office will allow Premiere to sub-license broadcast rights to Bundesliga matches from rival arena, it said on Wednesday, sending Premiere shares higher. Arena will sub-licence the rights to Premiere for two seasons and in return show the premier-league matches via c@ble and satellite, the cartel office said in a statement.

The soccer season starts on Aug 10. Live soccer matches are Premiere's main draw.

Premiere and UnityMedia, arena's parent company, declined immediate comment.

Shares in Premiere were up 2.8 percent at 19.72 euros by 1014 GMT.

Premiere shares had slumped more than 8 percent in April when a deal, struck in February, which allowed Premiere to distribute and market arena's Bundesliga games via satellite was put on hold due to cartel concerns.

The accord called for Premiere to issue 16.4 million shares to UnityMedia, giving it a 16.7 percent stake. To save the deal the companies amended their cooperation model, addressing those concerns to receive the competition watchdog's nod.

Bernhard Heitzner, head of the cartel office, said cooperation between the two sole competitors was not ideal.

However, since the deal was restricted to two seasons the anti-trust authority had allowed it.

He expects to see more competition during the next auction for the rights to broadcast the 2009/2010 Bundesliga season, he added.

The cartel office also said UnityMedia's 16.7 percent stake in Premiere which it received in return for the rights would be reduced by the end of the 2008/2009 season, allowing the companies to operate in the market independently. The rights to show live Bundesliga matches are much sought after in a country where pay TV is a difficult business.

Viewers have more than 30 free programmes to choose from and are reluctant to pay extra.

Premiere lost the Bundesliga rights in 2005 to arena and struggled to find a way to continue to show Bundesliga soccer matches until it struck the deal with arena.

Last month Premiere's Chief Financial Officer, Michael Boernicke, said that while he expected the deal to go through it would take three to four quarters before Premiere returns to its 2005 level of 300 euros annual revenue per customer. Boernicke had said average revenue per user (ARPU), which Premiere has allowed to remain low while it focuses on attracting customers with more flexible tariffs, should start to rise again in the third quarter if the cartel office decided in its favour.

Source: Reuters

[BGonaSTICK]

• German Cartel Office tolerates modified agreement with arena and Unitymedia: FCO-proceedings closed

• Premiere acquires sublicense to pay-TV rights for football Bundesliga and 2nd Bundesliga division for 2007/2008 and 2008/2009 seasons

• Sportsbar rights again exclusively with Premiere

• arena’s TV rights for Spanish Primera División and English Premier League go to Premiere

• All the games, all the goals, all live: pay-TV Bundesliga will again be exclusively produced, broadcast and marketed under the Premiere brand

• On August 1 Premiere will launch its own Bundesliga channel

• “Premiere Bundesliga” subscription available as of today for all viewers with c@ble or satellite reception in all of Germany

• Fair prices: € 19.99 per month for Bundesliga as a stand-alone package
Packages “Premiere Bundesliga” and “Premiere Fußball Plus” (UEFA Champions League, UEFA Cup, Europe’s top leagues and more) combined for € 29.98 per month.

With the „Premiere 5er-Kombi“ (five packages): Bundesliga for additional € 9.99 per month

• About 700,000 customers currently with an arena contract (with arena, Unitymedia, Kabel BW) can also watch “Premiere Bundesliga”. Platform operators arena (satellite) and Unitymedia (c@ble) receive a back license from Premiere against a fixed fee per month per subscriber at wholesale rates

• Premiere will have around 4.2 million subscribers as of August 1: 3.5 million direct subscribers, 700,000 through arena and Unitymedia

• Carriage agreement for all Premiere programming, additionally Premiere HD, on Unitymedia c@ble networks extended until end of 2013: Premiere retains direct customer relations and current business model remains unchanged

• arena receives 16.4 million shares in Premiere AG. Shares are managed by swiss financial institution Pictet & Cie., voting rights cannot be exercised

• Kofler: “This transaction strengthens Premiere sustainably – both in economic and strategic terms”

All the games, all the goals, all live: The Bundesliga is back home on Premiere. Premiere has acquired the exclusive sublicense for the football Bundesliga and the 2nd Bundesliga division pay-TV rights for the 2007/2008 and 2008/2009 seasons from the current rights holder arena. The rights for Bundesliga sportsbar broadcasts also go exclusively to Premiere. The German football league has given its consent to the transaction. The new deal puts Premiere back on top as the most important media partner of the German football league. Premiere will also take over the TV rights previously held by arena for the Spanish Primera División and the English Premier League. The sublicensing of the Bundesliga rights is the centerpiece of an extensive agreement between Premiere, arena and Unitymedia, which has been modified in the past months following talks with the German Cartel Office. The German Cartel Office had voiced reservations regarding the original agreement closed between the parties in February 2007. Now, the German Cartel Office tolerates the modified agreement: FCO-proceedings have been closed, making the contract effective as of today.

As already agreed in the February transaction, arena will receive 16.4 million shares in Premiere AG from an authorized capital increase. The shares will continue to be managed by the Swiss financial institution Pictet & Cie. Pictet has contractually agreed not to exercise the voting rights on the shares. The agreement with the financial institution rules out the possibility of arena having any influence on Premiere’s strategy or business. The German Cartel Office requires Pictet to sell the Premiere shares by June 30, 2009 at the latest. The six-month lock-up period for the Premiere shares contractually agreed upon in the February transaction with Pictet expires on August 8, 2007.

Dr. Georg Kofler, CEO of Premiere AG: “This transaction strengthens Premiere sustainably – both in economic and strategic terms. Premiere now offers more attractive programming than ever before. Premiere is available via all modern transmission channels: via satellite, c@ble and broadband IPTV. We are now better able to market key innovations such as Premiere HD and the new interactive receivers. Premiere will benefit from the accelerated digitization in c@ble and satellite households: the technical entry barriers will be eliminated step by step. This transaction substantially increases the brand value of Premiere as the leading pay-TV operator in Europe’s largest media market.”

Live Bundesliga in German pay-TV exclusive on Premiere again:

• Bundesliga will again be exclusively produced, broadcast and marketed under the Premiere brand

• On August 1 Premiere will launch its own Bundesliga channel

• Live Bundesliga from Premiere also exclusive in sportsbars

Starting next season, the live games of the football Bundesliga will again be produced, broadcast and marketed throughout Germany exclusively under the Premiere brand. Premiere will launch a new Bundesliga channel on August

1. The new channel will be available on the Premiere sports portal. It will offer everything true football fans desire, around the clock, seven days a week: all 612 live games from the Bundesliga and 2nd Bundesliga division separately, the live Premiere “conference channel”, “All the games, All the goals!” – the fastest football highlights show in German television, a comprehensive repeat concept, documentaries and reports. Premiere will present the details of the Bundesliga channel and the editorial concept of the Bundesliga broadcasts at the beginning of August. Kofler: “With the new Bundesliga channel, Premiere will be showing the best football television. Subscribers will get an excellent product and outstanding value for their money: Premiere’s experienced football reporting team, including award winning commentators such as Marcel Reif, Europe’s most modern football studio and renowned experts like Franz Beckenbauer will guarantee first-class football coverage for fans.“

The exclusive sportsbar rights are also back with Premiere. Premiere sportsbars can once again provide their guests with Bundesliga, top international football, Formula One and many more sport events from a single source. All bar owners who currently have contracts with arena will receive Bundesliga from Premiere until the contract expires. The sportsbar package can then be ordered directly from Premiere again.

More top European football: arena’s TV rights to the Spanish Primera División and the English Premier League go to Premiere

The TV rights for the Spanish Primera División and the English Premier League, which were held by arena until now, will be taken over by Premiere. The Primera División matches will be included both in the Bundesliga and in the “Premiere Fußball Plus” packages. Premiere will show more matches from the English Premier League than ever before. Matches kicked off parallel will be broadcast in the popular all live highlights show. The Premier League is only available as part of the “Premiere Fußball Plus” package.

Fair prices, easy access: the new Premiere football packages

• “Premiere Bundesliga”: €19.99 per month as a stand-alone package

• “Premiere Bundesliga” and “Premiere Fußball Plus” combined: €29.98 per month

• With the „Premiere 5er-Kombi“ (five packages): Bundesliga for additional €9,99 per month

• Simple technology: all football packages can be viewed throughout Germany (c@ble and satellite) with “enabled for Premiere” receivers

• Customers with a current arena contract can also watch “Premiere Bundesliga” with their receivers

The “Premiere Bundesliga” package is available as of today for all viewers with c@ble or satellite reception in all of Germany. As a stand-alone package, “Premiere Bundesliga” costs €19.99 per month. A good choice for football fans who want to watch everything is a combination of the new packages “Premiere Bundesliga” and “Premiere Fußball Plus” for a total of €29.98 per month. “Premiere Fußball Plus” is the ideal supplement to the Bundesliga. The package includes all UEFA Champions League games, the top UEFA Cup games, the best football from the top European leagues and a wide choice of international football events. With the „Premiere 5er-Kombi“ (five packages), Bundesliga only costs an additional € 9.99 per month.

Ordering and watching football will be easy again throughout Germany:

“Premiere Bundesliga” and all other Premiere programs can be accessed via c@ble and satellite with all receiver models labeled “enabled for Premiere”. Bundesliga live from Premiere is also available as part of the Deutsche Telekom broadband IPTV “T-Home” offering. Customers with a current arena contract and arena receivers will also be able to receive “Premiere Bundesliga”: their contract will be fulfilled.

Kofler: “The irritations for customers and all those interested in German pay-TV will soon be a thing of the past. We now have clear rules, fair prices and easy access again. This is a good basis for the pay-TV industry to grow further in Germany as a whole. One thing remains unchanged: people who want to watch everything are best served at Premiere. Only Premiere offers live top sports, Hollywood blockbusters, high-quality series, documentaries and special-interest channels from a single source in a single contract.”

Premiere with around 4.2 million subscribers as of August 1:

• 3.5 million direct customers

• About 700,000 indirect customers via arena, Unitymedia, Kabel Baden-Wuerttemberg

On August 1, Premiere will register the highest number of subscribers in the company’s history: about 4.2 million. Premiere will service around 3.5 million subscribers as direct customers in the traditional business model. Additionally, Premiere will reach some 700,000 further customers via the arena satellite platform and the c@ble platforms of Unitymedia and Kabel Baden-Wuerttemberg (Kabel BW). There, the “Premiere Bundesliga” will be broadcast and access will be granted within the scope of the existing arena contracts. arena and Unitymedia receive a back license from Premiere giving them the right to market „Premiere Bundesliga“ on their respective platforms on a non-exclusive basis – parallel to Premiere. In return, arena and Unitymedia will pay Premiere a fixed fee per month per subscriber at wholesale rates. In line with the German Cartel Office requirements, these cooperations for marketing the Bundesliga will end on June 30, 2009. Independent from this arrangement, Premiere can offer the Bundesliga package to its subscribers directly on the Unitymedia and Kabel BW c@ble networks and acquire new customers for all its packages.

Premiere extends carriage agreements with Unitymedia until end of 2013:

• Present bandwidth guaranteed for next six years

• Additional transmission of Premiere HD

• Premiere retains direct customer relationship

As part of the new deal, Premiere has also extended the carriage agreements with Unitymedia until the end of 2013. The current bandwidth of five c@ble channels of 8 MHz each will remain available for the transmission of all Premiere programming for the next six years. The agreements also cover the carriage of Germany’s leading HDTV channel Premiere HD. All Premiere pay-per-view and video-on-demand services will continue to be available. Premiere will retain its direct customer relationship on the c@ble networks of Unitymedia and service its customers directly. Kofler: “This new carriage agreement is a breakthrough in our negotiations on extending the c@ble carriage of Premiere in Germany. It is particularly important that Premiere continues its current business model with direct customer relations – without platform operators as intermediaries.”

Key elements for the economic evaluation of the transaction
The contracting parties have agreed to keep the financial details of the transaction confidential. However, the key elements for the economic evaluation of the transaction can be clearly identified:

• Premiere markets the Bundesliga and all other program packages nationwide with direct customer relationship and therefore tap the full revenue potential. The new carriage agreement with Unitymedia will also contribute to this.

• The new “Premiere Bundesliga” and “Premiere Fußball Plus” packages are effective tools for Premiere to increase subscriber numbers and the ARPU (revenue per user). “Premiere Bundesliga” combined with other Premiere packages gives additional revenue potential.

• The new football packages can help Premiere regain a substantial number of Premiere customers who churned due to the loss of the Bundesliga.

• From August, Premiere will be posting additional revenues from about 700,000 arena customers with no acquisition or customer service costs.

• Revenues from TV advertising connected with the Bundesliga matches will flow directly to Premiere.

• The sales opportunities for innovative hardware such as interactive receivers, HD receivers and Premiere digital recorders are significantly improved.

• The bank guarantees for the Bundesliga rights until 2009 will be provided by arena. Premiere’s credit lines will thus not be affected and its financial flexibility is fully retained.

• In return for these benefits, Premiere will issue 16.4 million shares to arena. Additionally, Premiere will also pay license fees to arena over the course of the two upcoming Bundesliga seasons. These license payments are lower than the fees Premiere paid in the years 2005/2006.

Kofler: “The management board and supervisory board of Premiere AG have carefully reviewed and evaluated every single aspect of this transaction. We believe that this transaction gives Premiere substantial strategic advantages and increases the growth potential of sales and profit margins significantly – also compared with the agreement announced in February. This is a win-win situation for both contracting parties: it puts Premiere back on the growth track, while Unitymedia can benefit if Premiere’s share price rises.”

Source: Premiere

[wod]

interesting, they need to go secure encrypted first lol

[BGonaSTICK]

And that might not be achievable, although if it were me in charge, I would take the whole summer to build and test the best fix possible and hope it held for a while.

[linsladeboy]

Don't give them ideas Stick
Things are pretty cool on patching front for now

[BGonaSTICK]

LOL - I predict that it will go black on the first day of the footy season, but I'm not betting on whether that's the English or German season! :roflmao: