Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : C-Cube -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Dan Spillane who wrote (25495)	11/19/1997 8:09:00 PM
From: John Rieman	Respond to of 50808

Nokia boxes: Kirch has one of two public channels on his side........ ijumpstart.com Premiere Finds New Foes to Take Up Regulatory Battles <Picture><Picture><Picture> Just as the Kirch/Bertelsmann alliance looked to be successfully navigating the German and EC regulatory waters, a new danger is lurking on the horizon. The Hollywood studio Universal appears set to complain to the European Commission about the alliance, arguing that it is taking the competition out of the German market. Hollywood studios, such as Universal, are concerned that anti-competitive price-fixing tactics are soon to come to the German market. Part of Universal's frustration stems from the fact that it has been unable to get carriage for its 13th Street action/adventure channel in Germany - despite the fact that a former Kirch executive Alexander Trauttmansdorff-Weinsberg is Universal's vice president of European pay-TV. Universal executives obviously did not think obtaining German carriage would be a problem. At September's MIPCOM event, Universal Television President Jim McNamara listed Germany right behind France and Spain for future market launches. The French channel launched last week on Canal Plus' Canal Satellite and the Spanish channel has an agreement with the Canal Plus-backed Sogecable system. But channel capacity in Germany is tight. Under the current media guidelines, Kirch has just 24 channels to fill. Deutsche Telekom's cable systems could offer another alternative, as Telekom always claims that it wants more bouquets than just Kirch and Bertelsmann's Premiere; but right now, that is the only game in town. It is unclear whether or not other Hollywood studios will follow Universal's lead, but it there is no doubt that they are not happy with the current arrangements. The competition between Bertelsmann and Kirch in the summer of 1996 made Germany the most lucrative pay-TV market for Hollywood last year. Now that they have bonded together, the new contracts should be significantly lower. The Universal rumours put a damper on what turned out to be a good week for Premiere. Last week, the two rivals finalised their agreement officially dissolving Kirch's failed digital service DF1 into Premiere. As part of the deal, Kirch paid out DM400 million (Pounds 137.4 million) and allowed Bertelsmann stakes in its sports channel DSF sports channel, and its technology companies Beta Digital and Beta Research. The new company will be based in Munich and Hamburg with a Kirch executive - Dieter Hahn - taking the reins at the beginning. Hahn, however, will give up control of Premiere at the end of next year to Bertelsmann VP Arnold Bahlmann. Despite the fact that it is on course to make a profit this year for the first time ever, Premiere was hit by the start-up costs associated with digital television. Some reports in the German press have Premiere losing of DM120 million (Pounds 41.2 million) on its digital output and DM2.5 billion (Pounds 869 million) on the digital startup, even though the company maintains it will post a DM20 million (about Pounds 7 million) profit this year and will break even by 2001. Of course, the new Premiere will not go into effect until it gets proper approval from the EU and German authorities, both of whom already have threatened trouble on anti-competitive grounds. Last week, German regulators thumbed their noses at Premiere by granted Germany's first national digital broadcasting license to the Tele-Communications Inter-national-backed MultiThematiques. Premiere still must operate under a temporary licence. The Bertelsmann/Kirch venture dodged its biggest bullet when it got public broadcaster ARD on its side. ARD had been making a lot of noise about the alliance being a powerful monopoly that had cut everyone else out of the digital equation; however, the broadcaster was placated with promises that it will have more influence over the further development of a common digital platform. **********************************************************************************