JULY 5, 2002

Bidders line up for Kirch Media

THE Kirch Media company, the firm which controls ProSiebenSAT.1, Germany's largest free-to-air TV broadcaster, is likely to be taken over within the next few days as bidders line up to grab parts of the defunct German media empire. The bidders include one of Kirch's biggest creditors Commerzbank, the film studio Colombia-Tristar and the US investor Chaim Saban. Saban is the man behind the Saban, the US billionaire, which has filed a non-binding Power Rangers children character. He has secured $1.4bn from the sale of his 49.5 per cent stake in Fox Family Worldwide to Disney last year.