Kirch Group has arranged credit facilities amounting to DM3 billion (Euro1.5 billion) for financing its digital pay-TV venture Premiere World. According to a statement issued by Kirch Pay-TV last week, the group considered several options before deciding to accept the offer made by Chase Manhattan for a credit of DM1.5 billion. A consortium of mostly German banks has granted another DM 1.5 billion. Kirch Pay-TV is Kirch Group’s holding for pay-TV activities, owning 95 per cent in Germany’s only pay-TV platform Premiere World, 40 per cent in Swiss pay-TV channel Teleclub and stakes in companies that produce pay-TV channels. In the first month after its October 1 launch, Premiere World acquired 110,000 new subscribers. In total, Premiere has two million customers of which more than one million have opted for digital.
