DFL, Kirch try to salvage German soccer deal -paper

Sun Jul 27, 2008 8:02am EDT

FRANKFURT, July 27 (Reuters) - The German football league is trying to save a lucrative deal with media mogul Leo Kirch to market TV soccer rights by addressing cartel office concerns that the current model puts free TV viewers at a disadvantage.

The sticking point is the time the popular highlights from Bundesliga games can be shown on free-to-air broadcasts.

Soccer body DFL, Kirch and Germany's only pay-TV broadcaster Premiere want Bundesliga wrap-ups to be aired on free TV after 10 pm, while the cartel watchdog wants highlights to be aired on free TV before 8 pm.

Sunday weekly Bild am Sonntag said without quoting sources the DFL board was in discussion to offer a compact version of highlights from the games to placate the cartel office.

Currently, public broadcaster ARD shows 90 minutes of game highlights from 0630 pm until 8 pm.

The DFL's new proposal allows 30 minutes of Bundesliga coverage for ARD at 7:30 pm, the paper reported.

With that move DFL hopes to salvage a deal with the Sirius agency, headed by media magnate Kirch, to market the rights as well as produce and sell ready-to-air Bundesliga programmes.

The agency promised to make up to 500 million euros ($785.1 million) per season from the rights.

So far, the DFL has said the agreement with Sirius stands, but Dieter Hahn, who closed the deal with DFL for Leo Kirch, told Der Spiegel magazine in a report to be published on Monday that if plans to push free TV Bundesliga wrap-ups to late in the evenings fail, then Sirius would pull out of the deal.
"In that case, the foundation for the model will crumble. Then we will also not be able to guarantee 500 million," Hahn said.

Separately, weekly magazine Focus said in its Monday edition without quoting sources that News Corp boss Rupert Murdoch was sounding out the possibility of buying the entire Bundesliga TV rights package for 450 million euros.

A spokesman for News Corp, which owns around 25 percent of Premiere , declined to comment.

Premiere, which currently shows live Bundesliga matches under an accord with cable operator Unity Media, has said it is willing to pay more for Bundesliga TV rights in exchange for greater exclusivity. (Reporting by Nicola Leske, editing by Will Waterman)