BERLIN -- German pay TV web Premiere managed to cut its losses in 2002 by 52% to €533 million ($573.5 million) while boosting its number of subscribers by 184,575 to nearly 2.6 million.
The multichannel broadcaster, which was recently taken over by Frankfurt-based investment group Permira, also posted a 4% increase in revenues to $888 million, company reported Wednesday.
"The new Premiere really came to life in the second half of 2002," said Premiere topper Georg Kofler. "The cost-cutting results of the restructuring measures we introduced in the first and second quarters did not fully take affect until the second half of the year. We were also able to dramatically boost our revenues in the fourth quarter [by 18%]. Premiere will continue to grow in 2003."
Premiere has managed to attract new customers with a $5-a-month basic subscription introduced last year. Yet most subscribers pay $25 or more a month for additional channels, including movie and sports outlets, Fox Kids, Discovery Channel and Universal's 13th Street and Studio Universal outlets.
Before its turnaround under Kofler's management, the money-losing Premiere had been instrumental in the collapse of its former parent, the Kirch Group, which went belly up last year. Kirch's high-priced output deals with U.S. studios made it impossible for Premiere to reach profitability. Since Kirch's collapse, Premiere has renegotiated all of its licensing contracts with Hollywood majors.
Part of Kofler's hard medicine also included the layoffs of 1,000 employees -- more than 40% of Premiere's original work force.
Permira recently completed its 65% acquisition of Premiere, whose other shareholders include creditors Hypovereinsbank and Bayern LB with 10% each, Kofler (10%) and Austrian bank BAWAG (3.5%).
(Christian Kohl in Cologne contributed to this report.)
Contact Ed Meza at
ed.meza@mannaa.de