According to news wire sources, if the talks fail then it is likely that Kirch PayTV will file for insolvency today.
It was thought that Murdoch was not interested in taking on Premiere -- believed to need around $1bn (£697.3m) in fresh capital, which News Corp does not want to provide.
Yesterday, it was reported that BSkyB would pursue Kirch for the put option it holds in Kirch's pay-TV operations, which would force the bankrupt German media firm to pay the UK broadcaster £1.04bn.
Kirch must, under the terms of the option, buy back Sky's stake. Sky has already written off the value of the option at just under £1bn when it reported its first-half results in February.
The debt-ridden German media group Kirch filed its insolvency papers yesterday with a Munich district court. The move gave the creditor banks and the insolvency administrator Wolfgang van Betteray control of the company.
On Friday, shareholders rejected an €800m (£490m) plan backed by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation and Italy's Silvio Berlusconi, which would have given the two media moguls control of Premiere, the loss-making pay-TV network, which has been a massive drain on Kirch.
It was also reported at the weekend that Murdoch was poised to snap up the football rights to the World Cup for 2002 and 2006. The prospect of a Kirch bankruptcy has already sending shockwaves through football in Germany. KirchMedia owns a four-year contract for broadcast rights to all German football teams, many of which would go out of business if the money from Kirch dries up.
If you have an opinion on this or any other issue raised on Brand Republic, join the debate in the .
_1.jpg)
.jpg)
