Tele-Munchen buys into Wien 1

Munich-based co. takes 26% of Austrian cabler

BERLIN -- Herbert Kloiber's Munich based Tele-Munchen, the rights trading, production and television group, has taken a 26% stake in Austrian regional cable channel Wien 1, one of a spate of local channels operating on cable in Austria.

A further 26% in Wien 1 has been taken over by United Pan European Communications. The existing shareholder consortium has reduced its stake to 33.3% in Wien 1, leaving the remaining 14% to be allocated to a new partner. According to reports, this is expected to be SBS Broadcasting SA, the European broadcasting conglomerate in which Kloiber is a member of the board.

SBS and Tele-Muenchen have already put in a joint application for the first national terrestrial private license in Austria, which still must be awarded.

In neighboring Switzerland, SBS, together with local player TA-Medien, were recently awarded the first national private television license for their channel TV-3.