Premiere to learn from Sky Italia

Two companies to work together

In a telephone conference Thursday, Premiere CEO Michael Boernicke said the two feevees would work together in the future, although he declined to provide details.

Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. recently became the biggest shareholder in the German paybox, with a 14.6% stake, and is also behind Sky Italia.

Since its 2003 bow, Sky Italia has attracted 4.2 million subscribers -- well ahead of Premiere’s 3.65 million.

“Sky Italia will play a role for Premiere in the future,” Boernicke said.

Premiere has been plagued by piracy and uncertainty over whether it would get rights to Bundesliga soccer.

Though still in the red, it narrowed its net loss in 2007 by 68% to e51.6 million ($75.3 million), while sales slipped nearly 7% to $1.4 billion.

“In the first six months we focused on stabilizing our customer base,” Boernicke said. “In the second half of the year, once we regained the Bundesliga rights, business picked up noticeably, and Premiere managed to increase revenues and boost subscriber numbers. I am also very pleased with the clearly positive cash flow in the fourth quarter.”

The paybox holds Bundesliga rights and last fall inked a deal for Formula One motor racing that includes exclusive pay TV rights in cable, satellite, Internet TV and mobile for Germany, Austria and Switzerland through 2010.

Premiere also strengthened its scripted fare by extending output deals with Paramount and Universal Studios.