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Shares fall as Premiere Bundesliga hopes falter
Germany - 02 June, 2006
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Pay-TV company Premiere had its shares fall more 8 percent Thursday after a newspaper report indicated that its chances of broadcasting German top-league football were slim.
Premiere’s shares hit an all-time low of EUR 10.33.
The Financial Times Deutschland newspaper said Deutsche Telekom, Germany’s leading telecoms operator, which owns the rights to broadcast Bundesliga football via the Internet, was considering giving up a claim that it could use those rights for broadcasting matches by way of cable and satellite-TV, in return for becoming the Bundesliga’s brand-name sponsor.
“The big loser will be Premiere, which teamed up with Deutsche Telekom supplying broadcasting know-how, because it would end the likelihood of using Deutsche Telekom's rights to broadcast football games over cable and satellite,” Steubing analyst Heino Ruland wrote in a note.
Premiere declined comment.
Deutsche Telekom announced last month that it would share its Internet rights with Premiere for broadcasting the games. The league said that they could not show the matches on cable and satellite networks using Internet technology.
A member of Premiere's executive board said Tuesday that Deutsche Telekom and the league had been in close contact in recent weeks, trying to compromise in the dispute over the rights.
The report comes after fights TV and Internet rights for the league has been escalating. On Tuesday, a newspaper quoted the head of Unity Media, which holds the live TV rights, as saying it would also show the games online.
Premiere shares lost two-thirds of its value since the stock exchange listing in April 2005. Most of the loss came after it lost Bundesliga rights in December to Arena, owned by Unity Media.
Premiere’s shares hit an all-time low of EUR 10.33.
The Financial Times Deutschland newspaper said Deutsche Telekom, Germany’s leading telecoms operator, which owns the rights to broadcast Bundesliga football via the Internet, was considering giving up a claim that it could use those rights for broadcasting matches by way of cable and satellite-TV, in return for becoming the Bundesliga’s brand-name sponsor.
“The big loser will be Premiere, which teamed up with Deutsche Telekom supplying broadcasting know-how, because it would end the likelihood of using Deutsche Telekom's rights to broadcast football games over cable and satellite,” Steubing analyst Heino Ruland wrote in a note.
Premiere declined comment.
Deutsche Telekom announced last month that it would share its Internet rights with Premiere for broadcasting the games. The league said that they could not show the matches on cable and satellite networks using Internet technology.
A member of Premiere's executive board said Tuesday that Deutsche Telekom and the league had been in close contact in recent weeks, trying to compromise in the dispute over the rights.
The report comes after fights TV and Internet rights for the league has been escalating. On Tuesday, a newspaper quoted the head of Unity Media, which holds the live TV rights, as saying it would also show the games online.
Premiere shares lost two-thirds of its value since the stock exchange listing in April 2005. Most of the loss came after it lost Bundesliga rights in December to Arena, owned by Unity Media.
Source: euFootball.BIZ © Copyright 2006 -
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