These settops use C-Cube chips..............................
dailynews.yahoo.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thursday April 30 3:22 PM EDT
Kirch Offers Film Rights To Save Bertelsmann Deal
By Amelia Torres
BRUSSELS, Belgium (Reuters) - German media mogul Leo Kirch has offered to sell 25 percent of his output rights to Hollywood films and to license production of digital decoders in order to win European Commission approval for his television alliance with Bertelsmann AG.
The proposals were detailed in a letter to the commission on Tuesday, a copy of which was obtained by Reuters on Thursday.
But they are unlikely to satisfy anybody.
The German Federal Cartel Office said Wednesday the concessions were insufficient, and German cable TV operators and rival broadcasters were expected to voice further concerns.
Kirch owns Europe's biggest film library and has output deals with Hollywood majors Warner Bros., Walt Disney Co., Columbia Pictures, Paramount Pictures, Universal Studios and 20th Century Fox, giving it the right to buy most films produced in future.
A source close to the talks said the 25 percent of rights to films not yet produced were insufficient to enable a company to start a film channel, and there was no mention of sports rights, which Kirch also has in abundance.
The proposal to license the production of decoder boxes also met with skepticism, as it was unclear how disputes over licensing terms would be settled despite suggestions for an arbitration body.
"We don't think the conditions go far enough and are too vague. The devil is in the detail," the source said.
Interested parties had until Thursday night to file their comments with the commission, the source said.
The commission, the executive body of the European Union, declined to comment on the proposals. It will consult with a committee of merger experts from the 15 EU states on May 6 before taking a final decision, possibly on May 20 or May 27.
Dieter Wolf, president of the German cartel authority, told reporters the proposals did not relieve concerns about a digital TV monopoly in Germany.
After years of bitter rivalry, Kirch and Bertelsmann announced last summer they were pooling efforts to get digital TV off the ground with the cooperation of former telecommunications monopoly Deutsche Telekom.
The deal involves Kirch and CLT-UFA, the TV joint venture between Bertelsmann and Audiofina, to merge pay-TV company Premiere with Kirch's ailing digital TV channel DF1 and to use decoder technology developed by Kirch's BetaResearch.
The cornering by powerful pay-TV companies such as Kirch and Rupert Murdoch's BSkyB in Britain of the rights to some popular sports programming also has sparked a heated debate over whether such events should automatically be shown on free television.
The German authorities are drawing up a list of sports events that must be available to all viewers.
But the list is considered deficient by some, as it features mainly big events such as the Olympic Games and the World Cup Soccer finals, which take place only every four years.
Reuters/Variety |
