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TS News - Disney Signs German Pay TV Deal




TELE-satellit News, 30 August 1996

Disney Signs German Pay TV Deal
  BURBANK, California, 96/08/30 (TS) -- Walt Disney Co. has signed a deal
with Germany's Kirch Group that will put the American company's movies on
Kirch pay-TV for the next ten years.

  Under the terms of the deal, Disney's live action movies, including those
of Hollywood, Touchstone and Miramax Pictures, will be available on Kirch
channels only in the pay television sector. The deal also includes the
possibility of a German version of the Disney Channel appearing in the new
DF-1 digital TV package.

  It's the latest of a string of pay TV deals announced for the German
market as players in the new digital broadcasting arena attempt to secure
exclusive rights for the output of Hollywood movie studios. Recently, MCA
announced a $1.5 billion deal with RTL Television for free television and a
$1 billion deal with Kirch for pay-TV, Warner Bros has also signed a pay TV
deal with Kirch, worth around $800 million.

  The value of the Disney deal was not disclosed.

  Meanwhile, in an interview with Reuter, Herbert Granath, chairman of
Disney/International Television, said current talks with with Latin America
satellite programmers could result in an announcement of a Latin American
version of the Disney Channel.

  Such a deal would likely be between Disney and the DirecTV or News
Corporation multi-channel packages.


(c)TELE-satellit 1996. All rights reserved.


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