Entrepreneur Haim Saban signed the 40,000-page contract on March 27, 2003 for the acquisition of the largest film library outside of Hollywood and the film rights business from KirchMedia. The Saban Group is acquiring programming rights to approximately 18,000 films and series. "With this contract now in place," Saban said in a statement, "both the content and distribution assets of Germanys premier media company will be positioned for future success." "The film library is a treasure, which until now has largely been underutilized," said Adam Chesnoff of the Saban Group, who also signed the contract along with insolvency administrator Dr. Michael Jaffé and KirchMedia managing director Hans-Joachim Ziems. Chesnoff continued, "We intend to leverage these unique offerings in order to strengthen both ProSiebenSat.1 and the library distribution business." The contract, along with the agreement to purchase a majority in ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG, is expected to be approved by the KirchMedia creditor committee on March 31, 2003. Terms of the contracts were not disclosed. The transaction also needs to pass regulatory and antitrust review in Germany. Insolvency administrator Jaffé expressed his "satisfaction in being able to obtain with the sale of the KirchMedia core businesses a maximum for the creditors considering the bad economy and the particular situation of the insolvency." KirchMedia is among the largest companies worldwide in purchasing and marketing program rights for free-TV, pay-TV, video and new media. Saban Capital Group (310-557-5100) is a private investment firm specializing in the media and entertainment industries. TV specialist Saban founded Saban Entertainment and the TV network Fox Family Worldwide. In fall 2001 Saban sold Fox Family Worldwide to the Walt Disney Corp. Saban has decades of experience in the TV business, including the production and distribution of children and family shows as well as the film rights trade and the operation of TV channels.
