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BGonaSTICK · 21-08-07, 02:24 AM

The 1999-2002 period wasn’t all good news for BSkyB. It was in 1999 that BSkyB bought a 40% stake in the - then Leo Kirch owned – Premiere World. Is it about to repeat the exercise?

BSkyB paid about £650m (then $1.04bn) for its 40% stake in German pay-TV broadcaster Premiere World, only to see the investment lost when Kirch Group went spectacularly bust in 2002. The Kirch Group’s bankruptcy was Germany’s biggest-ever corporate failure since the Second World War.

This past weekend there have been strong rumours that BSkyB is again looking at Premiere. German newspapers are full of reports – all firmly denied by Premiere officials – that R. Murdoch is looking at the 17% stake in Premiere held by German cable outfit Unity Media. “And if Murdoch doesn’t want the stake, then it is Vivendi which will pick it up,” suggest the reports. Fifty-six per cent of Premiere is publicly held.

Since Georg Kofler announced his surprise withdrawal from the CEO position lat week, new boss (and former CFO) Michael Boernicke has done his best to stress that he is looking to build the business, helped by reclaiming exclusive TV rights to German soccer. His self-proclaimed target is to increase the broadcaster’s profit margins from its current 10% to 25%-30% by 2010 – and by staying independent.

If those targets look achievable then it is no surprise that the likes of Sky and Canal Plus are sniffing around. Pay-TV in Germany has always been a struggle (current numbers 3.47m) but Boernicke is targeting another 200,000 by the end of this coming week, and is looking to soccer and HDTV to boost numbers even further.

Premiere is an operation to watch. Boernicke is evidently a very different character to Kofler, and perhaps an incoming investor could bring their own pay-TV experiences to the challenge of Germany. After all, with Astra’s ‘entavio’ now in place, and no shortage of enthusiasm from Germany’s major private and public channels for extra paid-for services, the timing could be right. But a $1bn loss just five years ago is still a sore memory for some at Sky.

Source: Rapid TV News

nanochickin · 21-08-07, 05:29 PM

Looks like Rupe is trying to bugger up the German market too >

21-08-07, 02:24 AM	#1 (permalink)
BGonaSTICK Dodgy Geezer Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Brighton Posts: 9,718 Thanks: 3 Thanked 166 Times in 60 Posts	BSkyB looking again at Premiere? The 1999-2002 period wasn’t all good news for BSkyB. It was in 1999 that BSkyB bought a 40% stake in the - then Leo Kirch owned – Premiere World. Is it about to repeat the exercise? BSkyB paid about £650m (then $1.04bn) for its 40% stake in German pay-TV broadcaster Premiere World, only to see the investment lost when Kirch Group went spectacularly bust in 2002. The Kirch Group’s bankruptcy was Germany’s biggest-ever corporate failure since the Second World War. This past weekend there have been strong rumours that BSkyB is again looking at Premiere. German newspapers are full of reports – all firmly denied by Premiere officials – that R. Murdoch is looking at the 17% stake in Premiere held by German cable outfit Unity Media. “And if Murdoch doesn’t want the stake, then it is Vivendi which will pick it up,” suggest the reports. Fifty-six per cent of Premiere is publicly held. Since Georg Kofler announced his surprise withdrawal from the CEO position lat week, new boss (and former CFO) Michael Boernicke has done his best to stress that he is looking to build the business, helped by reclaiming exclusive TV rights to German soccer. His self-proclaimed target is to increase the broadcaster’s profit margins from its current 10% to 25%-30% by 2010 – and by staying independent. If those targets look achievable then it is no surprise that the likes of Sky and Canal Plus are sniffing around. Pay-TV in Germany has always been a struggle (current numbers 3.47m) but Boernicke is targeting another 200,000 by the end of this coming week, and is looking to soccer and HDTV to boost numbers even further. Premiere is an operation to watch. Boernicke is evidently a very different character to Kofler, and perhaps an incoming investor could bring their own pay-TV experiences to the challenge of Germany. After all, with Astra’s ‘entavio’ now in place, and no shortage of enthusiasm from Germany’s major private and public channels for extra paid-for services, the timing could be right. But a $1bn loss just five years ago is still a sore memory for some at Sky. Source: Rapid TV News __________________ Dreambox 7000, Skystar2 PCI, Skystar USB, Fibo 90cm on Moteck SG2100, Triax TD110 multi-LNB. Sky + ART cards. 45.0°E - 58.0°W

21-08-07, 05:29 PM	#2 (permalink)
nanochickin Retired Mod & Sat Guru Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Wolverhampton Posts: 3,825 Thanks: 46 Thanked 338 Times in 270 Posts	Re: BSkyB looking again at Premiere? Looks like Rupe is trying to bugger up the German market too > __________________ Sanity is nothing more than an excuse to be boring