Kirch Buys PolyGram Film Rights

Kirch Group, Germany’s second-largest broadcaster, said it has acquired exclusive rights to broadcast films from PolyGram Filmed Entertainment to the German-speaking pay television market. The agreement for 10 years is the latest in a series of high-profile film and television rights acquisitions that gives the German company one of the best-stocked entertainment libraries in Europe. Closely held Kirch is battling for Germany’s nascent pay television market with several large and highly capitalized competitors, including Bertelsmann, the world’s third-largest media company after Walt Disney Co. and Time-Warner Inc., as well as Canal Plus of France and even such broadcasting newcomers as Deutsche Telekom. Under the pact, Kirch gets the right to broadcast all the films PolyGram brings to German cinemas, Kirch spokesman Johannes Schmitz said. He would not disclose how much Kirch paid for the rights.