Kirch buys more, but claims TV safe

The German-based media conglomerates now hold a majority 75 per cent in SLEC.

The deal sees the two companies in the driving seat when it comes to TV rights for the world's annually most-watched sport (beaten only by the four-yearly Olympics and football's World Cup) - a situation which has caused concern among the group of five car manufacturers that had hoped to buy a stake in F1.

The 'Big Five' - which includes Fiat (Ferrari), Ford (Jaguar), Mercedes, BMW and Renault - were looking to buy into SLEC in order to have more control over rights to the sport. They are concerned that Kirch will transfer all F1 coverage into pay-per-view TV, detracting significantly from the number of viewers.

In Geneva yesterday (Wednesday), Mercedes board member Jurgen Hubbert confirmed that a meeting of the manufacturers on Tuesday had resulted in a request to Kirch that it would guarantee F1 remaining on terrestrial TV, or the big five would reconsider their position in the sport. One mooted possibility was a breakaway F1 championship, effectively removing the product Kirch would have to sell.

But Kirch has responded to the car makers' concerns by stating that it had no plans to move F1 towards its pay-per-view TV services.

Kirch managed to secure the US$987 million needed to exercise an EMTV option to purchase a further 25 per cent of SLEC, the Ecclestone family-owned holding company which owns the marketing and television rights to F1.

Kirch owns half of EMTV's original 50 per cent stake in SLEC and also has 25 per cent voting rights in the company. The German media group stepped in to save EMTV once the latter's share price began to plummet last year after buying into Formula 1.

A Kirch spokesman said earlier this week that the company might be willing to talk with the manufacturers should they still wish to purchase a stake in F1. However, this is now thought more likely to happen on a company-by-company basis, and not as a single group.