Kirch's Sirius Agency To Market Bundesliga Rights For Six Years

KirchGroup Founder Leo Kirch is “regaining a foothold” in the German Bundesliga, as his Sirius agency will market the domestic broadcast rights for the soccer league for six seasons starting in '09 and "help produce pay-TV programs,” according to Philipp Grontzki of BLOOMBERG NEWS. League clubs expect revenue of at least US$4.2B from the deal. Premiere AG, Germany’s largest pay-TV operator, currently shows live Bundesliga matches under a deal with Unity Media that expires after the ’08-09 season. Premiere Exec Board member Carsten Schmidt said the announcement of Kirch's deal "doesn’t include anything that makes us insecure. We still regard ourselves as a serious bidder for a large part of the rights.”  Christian Seifert, Managing Dir of the German soccer association (DFL), said, “We’ll certainly have a scenario where Premiere will be in a position to place their preferred bid” (BLOOMBERG NEWS, 10/9). DAILY VARIETY’s Ed Meza reported Schmidt “has warned that Premiere would not pay much if Kirch sell rights to various pay TV channels and would refuse produced and packaged coverage.” Schmidt added that Premiere  has "a responsibility to its subscribers to provide independent sports coverage” (DAILY VARIETY, 10/10).  Upon news of Kirch winning the rights, shares of Premiere fell 12.7% yesterday (FINANCIAL TIMES, 10/11).