It has been announced that KirchMedia is to be liquidated after creditors were unable to secure a buyer for the insolvent German media group.
Earlier this year, it seemed that a Â2 billion takeover had been agreed with the American billionaire Haim Saban (see Haim Saban Agrees To Buy ProSiebenSat.1). However a dispute over the future of Kirch’s extensive film and TV rights library led to the collapse of the deal, which was made to look less attractive by the recent fall in the value of the dollar against the euro (see Kirch TV Deal Hits The Rocks).
The creditors have decided to retain KirchMedia’s 52.5% stake in the German TV giant ProSiebenSAT1. The broadcaster will receive Â300 million in fresh investment, with 50% to come from KirchMedia and the remainder from the creditor banks. It will also gain cheap rights to around 2,000 films from the library. The remaining rights are to be sold off.