Kirch, Deutsche Telekom In Tv Talks

In an interview with the economic daily Handelsblatt newspaper, DT chairman Ron Sommer said the goal of the talks with the Kirch Group was to increase the amount of programming in Telekoms loss-making cable television network. Next to us, they have invested the most in this business, Sommer said.

He added that DT was seeking normal business relations with Kirch, but did not rule out a pay TV joint venture in future.

Last month DT said it would withdraw from another pay TV alliance, Multimedia Betrie-bsgesellschaft, in which it was partners with Kirch rival Bertelsmann.

Sommer said he expected MMBG would fold by the end of the year. DT is the largest MMBG shareholder with a direct stake of 27 per cent and another 18.5 per cent in trusteeship.

 

Bertelsmann holds 5.5 per cent through its subsidiary Ufa Film und Fernseh GmbH, 5.5 per cent through television network RTL and 11 per cent through Cie Luxembourgoise de Telediffu-sion (CLT). CLT and Ufa are set to merge later this year.

Sommer said DT would step up modernisation of the cable television network.