Murdoch's Premiere takeover closer
News Corp. the paybox's largest shareholder
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Murdoch's News Corp. has become the paybox's single largest shareholder after continually upping its stake to 25% since the beginning of the year.
The European Commission said it would allow the deal on the condition that Premiere continued to allow rivals access to its satellite set-top boxes, adding that the agreement would ease worries of News Corp. dominating the Teutonic pay TV market and strengthen Premiere's leading position here.
The multichannel paybox's top attractions remain live German Bundesliga soccer and Formula One racing, as well as exclusive films and TV series in addition to pay outlets from NBC Universal, Sony, Disney as well as local players RTL, ProSiebenSat.1 and Kinowelt.
The leading pay TV operator in Germany and Austria, Premiere has some 4.2 million subscriber households.
Company is in the process of switching its encryption technology to News Corp.'s own NDS VideoGuard, a move that had sparked concerns among some market players who feared third parties would be excluded from Premiere's satellite platform.
The European watchdog said News Corp. had promised to allow third-party access to the platform, which serves Germany and Austria.
Earlier this month Premiere expanded its supervisory board to include News Corp. reps Thomas Mockridge, chief exec of Sky Italia, and Mark Andrew Williams, News Corp.'s chief financial officer for Europe and Asia.
If Murdoch decides to buy more than 30% of Premiere he will be legally obligated to make a takeover offer to the feevee's minority shareholders. Nearly 38.5% of the paybox is publicly traded, with the remainder owned by several private equity firms and Premiere execs.
