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It is understood that he could make the bid through an option News Corp has on its stake in Kirch Pay-TV.

News Corp has agreed an option under which the German company's founder, Leo Kirch, is bound to buy News Corp out of its 22% stake in Premiere, its German pay-TV company.

The buy-out agreement would force Kirch to fork out about £1.25bn in cash which, as it struggles under billions of debt, it could ill afford, giving Murdoch the chance to take over the company.

The news comes in the fall-out of year-long negotiations Murdoch held with General Motors about taking over its lucrative US pay-TV operator DirecTV, to which he was beaten to at the last minute by rival US pay-TV provider EchoStar.

Kirch Media recently reported debts of £2.75bn. However, what is not known is the level of debt the company's other units, Kirch Pay-TV and Kirch Beteiligung -- which has stakes in print, film production and distribution, and music, film and film rights companies -- are burdened with.

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