If the change in management does take place, it would be the first foreign takeover of a German television network.
ProSiebenSAT.1 is Germany's biggest TV broadcaster and is 52% owned by KirchMedia. The deal would also give Murdoch's News Corporation and Berlusconi's Mediaset, along with Lehman Brothers bank, ownership of KirchMedia's media rights arm.
Kirch Gruppe is struggling with €8.8bn (£5.4bn) of debt and has had advisers looking at what assets it could dispose of to survive. The group faces being broken up by creditors otherwise. The company is also looking at the option of closing its loss-making Premiere pay-TV station.
According to a report in the Financial Times, Kirch was only left with one option -- a change of management through an injection of €800m in capital. The deal is seen as a face-saving option for the group.
Germany does not have laws against foreign ownership of media, but national feeling is that majority foreign ownership is to be avoided. Earlier this year, Liberty Media, the cable company owned by John Malone, saw an attempt to take over Deutsche Telekom's cable network scuppered by the German competition regulator.
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