War Around Kirchs Tv Empire

"Banks try to tear out the fillet pieces to themselves", however, also media Mogul Murdoch stands ready to take!

The drama unfolds around Leo Kirch and his(its) with five to six billion Euros high if heavily indebted media group (premiere, SAT.1, per Seven, cables 1) does not head for a decision. " These days we see many sources on the road who would like to bring the elephant to its knees ", says an insider.

One is of them, the Australian media Mogul Rupert Murdoch to whom already a fifth of Kirch's Pay TV broadcasting station premiere belongs. Murdoch would gladly put his fingers between Kirch's other broadcasting stations to take control.  Rupert Murdoch's BSkyB said on Wednesday that Kirch Managing Director Dieter Hahn had resigned from its board, in a sign of increasingly sour relations between the two media companies.

Hahn was given a seat on BSkyB's board when the British satellite operator bought a 22 percent stake in Kirch's pay-TV operation in 1999. However, BSkyB has warned it may exercise an option to sell that stake back to Kirch in October.

Rampant speculation has also plagued Kirch that Murdoch has been considering taking advantage of heavily indebted Kirch's cash problems and difficulty in meeting BSkyB's option to take a controlling stake in Kirch Pay TV.

For Germany television-broadcasting and also political a true horror vision. Since Murdoch is notorious not only for his aggressive methods of doing business, but also as a merciless media politician: what would give Murdoch an to preeminent control of one of Europe major broadcast and media markets

A top German television executive, ARD's chairman Fritz Pleitgen, said in an interview with Der Tagesspiegel newspaper that the entrance of a foreign competitor such as Murdoch into the German media market would upset the current balance between government and private broadcasters. ``We want Kirch to stay in the game,'' Pleitinger told the Berlin newspaper.

Already is a " national rallying solution " under its way. Today's information of the trade journal "Telebrorse" Made clear that chancellors Gerhard Schröder, his challenger Edmund Stoiber of the Bavarian Landesbank where Kirch has 2,3 billion Euros in dept, Bertelsmann chief and Kirch competitor Thomas Middelhoff (RTL) as well as German bank boss Rolf Breuer discuss possibilities for a rescue mission.

Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's chief spokesman, Uwe-Karsten Heye, insisted the government was not active in efforts to find an answer to Kirch's financial problems and was offering no advice to the troubled media group.

``A solution can only be found by the participants, including the banks involved,'' Heye said at a news conference. Still, he said Schroeder is observing those efforts ``with great interest, not least because of the number of jobs involved.''

The most likely solution: the dismantling of the Kirch group. In the opinion of the Dortmunder media researcher Horst Röper Kirch can be saved only if Kirch would reduce debt through sales of some of its assets: like the sales of its 40 per cent interest in Axel Springer publishing house, of its formula 1 rights and the Spanish broadcasting station Telecinco.

German bank chief Rolf Breuer comes to the game to help dismantle the formula 1 circus, the car manufacturers must divide at the moment with Kirch and the formula 1 chief Ecclestone. However, leading car makers aiming to set up their own Formula One racing organisation have no interest in more talks with the Kirch Group, a top executive of German auto group DaimlerChrysler AG was reported as saying on Thursday.

The comments, in Thursday's Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper, underline the increasing isolation of the struggling German media group, which faces having to pay billions of euros to cover debt and options to banks and partners this year.

The car makers moved to create a rival Formula One organisation last year after Kirch acquired a majority stake in the marketing organisation behind the lucrative racing events, sparking fears races might be shown only on Kirch's pay TV operation.

``The five manufacturers involved in Formula One, BMW , DaimlerChrysler, Fiat , Ford and Renault received proposals for cooperation with the Formula One marketing firm SLEC some time ago which, after comprehensive internal discussions, they considered would not lead to a result,'' DaimlerChrysler board member Juergen Hubbert told the newspaper.

He said the manufacturers had made preparations to start a new Formula One series from 2008, when the current agreement with SLEC runs out. ``As a result, there is no currently reason in my view for talks with the Kirch group,'' he said.

While dismantling the Kirch group the banks will try " to pull out the fillet pieces to themselves ", it was yesterday supposed in well informed political circles.

The suspicion does not come by chance. Breuer started personally the Kirch-battle, when he announced on Monday in a for a banker very unusual, to opposite Kirch in its client's betrayal: " the finance sector is not ready under the present circumstances to fund Kirch with fresh capital. " A speculation in media circles is, the German bank(bench) already wants to throw for months other credit grantors to shake the empire Kirchs, because in a big one rallying-dealt she can earn a lot of money. Moreover, branch circles refer to the fact that Germans bank-supervisory board chief Hilmar Kopper also lead the control group of Daimler Chrysler at the same time: " the Kopper can win mostly! " His(its) aim can be it to make possible an entrance in the formula 1 marketing for the car manufacturers around Mercedes. At present Kirch holds the majority in the formula 1.

Among other things as potential buyers for Kirchs 40 per cent participation in Springer Verlag publishing house are Bertelsmann and also Rupert Murdoch is considered,

Leo Kirch has certainly still the last word. He is conscious of the seriousness of the compnies position - " however, it is not so that he is bankrupt. " Up to now, again and again the old fox has still found a way out.