News Corp interested in boosting stake in Premiere
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Rupert Murdoch's News Corp NWSa.N is interested in boosting its stake in Premiere AG PREGn.DE to about 23 percent ahead of the German pay-television company's annual meeting in June, a source close to the media conglomerate said on Monday.
The news, first reported by Germany's Der Spiegel, sent shares of Premiere up 2.4 percent to 13.67 euros.
News Corp, which as of last month held a 19.99 percent stake in Premiere, declined to comment.
The company's interest in Europe's biggest TV market stems in part from an opportunity -- with News Corp's financial fire power -- to secure the rights to air premier league soccer games live in Germany, company watchers have said, repeating a time-honored Murdoch strategy in other regions.
Although Premiere offers channels with Hollywood movies, documentaries, drama and pornography, German viewers have largely been reluctant to pay for television unless soccer games are shown.
New York-based News Corp, which owns the 20th Century Fox studios, the MySpace Internet social network and the London Times newspaper, raised its stake in Premiere to 19.9 percent in February.
At the time, a source familiar with the plans said the company was comfortable with its position, but would continue to evaluate the situation.
Murdoch's initial 14.58 percent stake purchase in January set off speculation that the world's most famous media mogul aimed to take over Germany's biggest pay-television provider.
At 23 percent, News Corp would hold a majority stake for Premiere's June annual meeting, based on previous attendance, according to the report.
Shareholders owning some 44.9 percent of its capital stock were present at Premiere's 2006 annual meeting -- the company's first and best-attended so far -- and 29.6 percent attended in 2007.
Historically, Murdoch has favored investing in companies in which he held control. But the source said News Corp was not likely to raise its stake beyond 30 percent.
Under German corporate law, News Corp would have to offer to take over the company if it increased its stake past 30 percent.
(Reporting by Kenneth Li; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)
