Media Notes: German Pay-TV Provider Sky Deutschland Sees Subscriber Increase

German pay-TV provider Sky Deutschland "saw subscriber numbers increase by 64,000 during the first-quarter," as fewer customers canceled their subscriptions. Subscriber growth "is a key measure for investors who are trying to predict when the broadcaster will make a net profit." Sky Deutschland, which has secured the broadcasting rights for the German football Bundesliga until '16-17, said that "it still expects to add between 400,000 and 450,000 subscribers this year" (REUTERS, 5/7). ... Spanish broadcaster Antena 3 F1 commentator Antonio Lobato announced on Wednesday that "he will not broadcast F1 races next season." The "man who has announced Fernando Alonso's success in F1" since '04 -- first for Telecinco, later for La Sexta and now for Antena 3 -- will "no longer be the voice narrating drivers' adventures on the great circuit" (LIBERTAD DIGITAL, 5/6). ... The Spanish Government is "looking for emergency solutions" to broadcaster TVE’s "unsustainable financial situation." A report in Spanish newspaper El Mundo stated the broadcaster’s debt is more than €800M ($1.1B), which "could, theoretically, drive the channel to closure." Although this is "unlikely to happen, the Government has been forced to intervene." Since ’09, the channel’s debt has grown by €100M a year. TVE has a capital stock of €1.5B ($2.1B), "half of which will be endangered by the huge debt" (RAPID TV NEWS, 5/5).