The Hindu : Sport : Pay TV firm Premiere sues over losing German soccer rights

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Tuesday, Dec 27, 2005

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Sport - Sports : General

Pay TV firm Premiere sues over losing German soccer rights

BERLIN: Pay TV organization Premiere has filed an antitrust suit against the cable company that won the rights to show German league games live.

Premiere chief executive George Kofler said in an interview with Sueddeutsche Zeitung made available Monday that his company, which lost the rights to televise the sport, had filed suit against Unity Media in state court in Duesseldorf.

Legal action's aim

Kofler said the aim of the legal action was to overturn the competition authorities' approval of the merger between companies Ish and Iesy that led to Unity.

``When network and content are in the same hands, there is a vertical integration with a market-dominating position,'' Kofler said in the interview to be published Tuesday.

Under the deal announced last week, the German league dropped long-time partner Premiere to give the rights to show live games from the Bundesliga — Germany's top soccer league — to Unity.

The new three-year contract is valid from the start of next season and is worth euro420 million ($495 million) per year — euro120 million (US$141 million) more than the old agreement with Premiere.

Despite the suit, Kofler did not rule out future cooperation with Unity, such as sub-licensing.

``Naturally, we could also arrive at sensible cooperation with the new rights holders,'' Kofler said. ``I would like as little as possible to change for Premiere subscribers.''

Premiere's stock plunged more than 40 percent after the announcement and was last valued at euro13.65 (US$16.10) before the holiday trading break.

``The other side of the coin is that many investors are getting in,'' Kofler said. ``I personally have around 11 million shares and I'm keeping them — in good as in bad times.'' — AP

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