End game?

8 January 2008 By Una Galani Follow @ugalani

The German payTV broadcaster is trying to regain exclusivity on the lucrative Bundesliga football broadcast rights. News Corp s purchase of 15% of Premiere is a vote of confidence. James Murdoch s first big move in his new job looks smart.

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News Corporation announced on Monday the acquisition of a 15% stake in Premiere, Germany's largest payTV operator, for E287m.

Rupert Murdoch's News Corp acquired the stake from Unitymedia, the German cable operator for E17.50 per share, equivalent to a 38% to Friday's closing price. Unitymedia received the 16.4 million Premiere shares last year as a result of a cooperation deal on German premiership football games.

News Corp's European payTV holdings include a 39% stake in UK's leading operator BSkyB and its whollyowned Sky Italia, Italy's leading payTV provider.

Premiere shares closed trading up 20% at E15.28.

Rupert Murdoch's News Corp is a minority investor in breakingviews following its recent acquisition of Dow Jones. Dow Jones' Wall Street Journal also carries a daily Breakingviews.com column.

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