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| Disney Plans Bid for German Soccer Rights, May Start Local ESPN |
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By Simon Thiel
Walt Disney Co., the second-largest U.S. media company, plans to bid for the live pay-TV broadcast rights to Germany's top soccer games and would start a local ESPN sports channel to broadcast the matches, said two people with direct knowledge of the situation.
Disney is in talks with German cable companies including Kabel Deutschland GmbH, Kabel Baden-Wuerttemberg GmbH and Unity Media GmbH to distribute a potential German-language ESPN channel for Bundesliga games, two people with direct knowledge of the talks said. Disney owns 80 percent of ESPN.
A bid for top German matches would pit ESPN, the most- watched sports TV network in the U.S., against local pay-TV operator Premiere AG, in which Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. owns 25 percent. Premiere shows Bundesliga games under a sublicensing deal with Unity Media that runs through the 2008-2009 season and relies on the rights to attract subscribers.
``We always take a look at key properties when they become available and we view this as a key property,'' Chris LaPlaca, a Bristol, Connecticut-based ESPN spokesman, said in an interview when asked about the Bundesliga rights.
The rights will be awarded for three or four years, starting with the 2009/2010 season.
Disney registered with Germany's DFL soccer association to receive auction documents, according to the two people, who declined to be named as there is no final decision. DFL will send documents to all bidders next week and aims to reach an agreement with one of them by the end of the year, one person said.
Unity Talks
``As a leading global sports media company, we continue to explore sports rights around the world, and where they make business sense,'' said Damion Potter, a Disney spokesman in the U.K. ``We have nothing to announce about Bundesliga.''
Christian Pfennig, a DFL spokesman, declined to comment, as did Stefan Susbauer, a Unity Media spokesman.
ESPN is also in talks with Unity Media to use the cable company's satellite platform to distribute a German ESPN channel, the people said.
Unity Media, which tried to use the German soccer rights to expand its pay-TV platform and promote bundled TV, phone and broadband offerings, sublicensed the Bundesliga rights to Premiere after failing to make its ``Arena'' channel profitable.
ESPN would aim to distribute the new German pay-TV channel via existing cable and satellite platforms, adding shows and sport events from its U.S. channels, the people said.
European Push
Viewers in Germany can currently subscribe to the English- language ESPN Classic channel, which airs vintage matches, and the North American Sports Network, which broadcasts high-profile U.S. sports events such as the Super Bowl. Both channels are available through the pay-TV offerings of Kabel Deutschland, Kabel Baden-Wuerttemberg and Unity Media.
``We have been very aggressive in recent years establishing the ESPN brand in Europe,'' LaPlaca said. ``We want to become as well known in Europe as we are in the U.S. and Latin America.''
Disney Chief Executive Officer Robert Iger told reporters on Sept. 10 in London that the company wants to continue its global expansion and is examining opportunities in several markets. Disney also runs theme parks and owns the ABC television network.
Premiere has said it will bid for the rights in the auction. Mark Williams, who became Premiere chief executive officer in September, said Oct. 3 he expects to secure those rights.
The appointment of Williams, who used to be News Corp.'s finance chief for Europe and Asia, may indicate News Corp. aims to increase its stake or make an offer for the rest of Premiere, analysts including Deutsche Bank's Paul Reynolds have said.
News Corp., based in New York, first bought 14.6 percent of Premiere in January, saying it anticipated ``enormous'' growth in the German TV market. The stake was raised to 25 percent later in the following months. News Corp. also controls British Sky Broadcasting Group Plc, the U.K.'s biggest pay-TV provider.
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