German World Cup TV coverage set to go pay-per-view

German fans may have to pay television subscription fees for matches at the 2002 and 2006 World Cup finals after the top two state broadcasters quit talks with the Kirch Media group.

Kirch hold the rights to matches at the next two World Cup finals and were in talks with ARD and ZDF to sell rights to the matches but their price of more than £80 million proved too much for the state stations.

This was the price agreed in January for 2002 World Cup matches but the two broadcasters also wanted exclusive rights to broadcast the 2006 finals which Germany will host and Kirch refused.

The Kirch group, which is owned by Munich media magnate Leo Kirch, acquired the worldwide television rights to both the finals in 2002 and 2006 in a pact with Swiss company ISL five years ago. They paid $2.2 billion for this deal and are now in talks to negotiate television rights deals across the world.

Kirch will now offer the coverage rights to pay-per-view and privately funded commercial networks but German fans could be charged by subscription services for the first time to see matches at the event.

Other broadcasters across Europe had been unsettled by the large cash demands made by Kirch with fans in Scandinavia already priced out of terrestrial coverage.