KirchGruppe (KirchGroup) was a German media group founded by
Leo Kirch
Leo Kirch (21 October 1926 – 14 July 2011) was a German media entrepreneur who founded the Kirch Group.
Life
Kirch was born in Volkach, Bavaria, but shortly afterward his family moved to the nearby town of Würzburg. After completing high ...
(1926–2011) in the 1960s. By 2000, it controlled a 52.5 percent stake in what would become the country's biggest broadcaster.
The group collapsed in 2002 largely due to the debts associated with the purchase of
sports rights for its
television channel
A television channel is a terrestrial frequency or virtual number over which a television station or television network is distributed. For example, in North America, "channel 2" refers to the terrestrial or cable band of 54 to 60 MHz, with ...
s and the launch of
pay-TV
Pay television, also known as subscription television, premium television or, when referring to an individual service, a premium channel, refers to subscription-based television services, usually provided by multichannel television providers, but ...
services.
The holding company for the group was Taurus Holding which had three major subsidiaries, KirchMedia, Kirch PayTV and KirchBeteiligung. KirchMedia declared bankruptcy on 8 April 2002, followed by KirchPayTV on 8 May 2002 and finally KirchBeteiligung on 12 June 2002 along with Taurus Holding.
Alwaleed bought 3.19 percent of KirchMedia in 1999, and 3.3 percent of KirchPayTV for $150 million.
KirchMedia
KirchMedia's main assets were KirchSport, which held the TV rights to the World Cup and other sports; 52.5% of
ProSiebenSat.1 Media, an owner of main satellite channels; the
DSF sports channel; TaurusProduktion, a film and TV production group; and TaurusLizenz, owner of fiction and media medium rights.
KirchMedia declared bankruptcy on 8 April 2002.
KirchPayTV
KirchPayTV was majority owned by Taurus Holding, however BSkyB held 22% along with
Lehman Brothers
Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. ( ) was an American global financial services firm founded in 1847. Before filing for bankruptcy in 2008, Lehman was the fourth-largest investment bank in the United States (behind Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, a ...
(2.4%) and Saudi Prince Al-Waleed (3.12%). The company's main asset was the
Premiere pay-TV network.
KirchPayTV filed for bankruptcy on 8 May 2002.
[ ]
KirchBeteiligung
KirchBeteiligung's main assets were its majority share of Formula One's commercial rights (through
Speed Investments) and its 40.33% stake in the media company,
Axel Springer AG
Axel Springer SE () is a German digital and popular periodical publishing house which is the largest in Europe, with numerous multimedia news brands, such as ''Bild'', ''Die Welt'', and '' Fakt'' and more than 15,000 employees. It generated tot ...
.
KirchBeteiligung filed for bankruptcy on 12 June 2002, along with the Taurus Holding parent company of the Kirch Group.
References
{{reflist
Television companies of Germany