Kirch Media is the leading distributor of sports broadcasting rights in Europe and holder of the largest rights library in the world, although mostly in German language programmes, according to analysts at ABN Amro. The broker believes that TF1 will be primarily interested in the sports trading capabilities of the company, as well as access to the German TV market; Kirch Media operates ProSiebenSAT.1, Germany’s largest broadcaster.
However, TF1’s bid is at the bottom of the range of offers and is therefore unlikely to ever be completed, according to ABN. The FT reports that bids in the range of E1.8 billion to E2.5 billion have been tabled from German publishers Axel Springer and Bauer, as well as the country’s third-largest listed bank, Commerzbank.
