I can't be angry with Rupert, even if he wants to eat me. That's the way he is

Leo Kirch

The interview was published at the end of a week in which debt-laden KirchGruppe was faced with the cancellation of a strategic merger designed to improve its fundraising potential.

KirchGruppe also admitted it was seeking to sell the broadcast rights to Formula One motor racing to pay off debt.

Premiere squeeze

"Murdoch is a shark. Sharks have sharp teeth. If you can't swim with them, you shouldn't climb in the pool in the first place", Mr Kirch told the German magazine Der Spiegel.

Mr Murdoch's News Corp owns a 22% stake in KirchGruppe's loss making pay TV business Premiere.

It has the right to force KirchGruppe buy back the Premiere stake for 1.7bn euros, a sum KirchGruppe has already acknowledged it cannot afford.

News Corp has made clear it wants the cash and won't accept more shares in Premiere.

Last week it stepped up the pressure on KirchGruppe by writing off the value of the stake.

Talks with the Chancellor

"I can't be angry with Rupert, even if he wants to eat me. That's the way he is", said Mr Kirch, who has an equally tough reputation.

Leo Kirch bought expensive sports rights

KirchGruppe's debt burden is estimated by some to amount to as much as 13bn euros and much of it falls due this year.

In recent weeks, a lengthening list of creditors have insisted on rapid repayment.

KirchGruppe's managing director Dieter Hahn told Der Spiegel the media group needs to find more funds by June.

Mr Murdoch travelled to Berlin last week for talks with the German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, the UK paper The Business reported.

Concerns

The future of Kirch, particularly its newspapers, is a sensitive matter for the German political elite, who want a "German solution" in which the group's constituent parts go to other German media companies and not to global players, according to the paper.

Mr Murdoch has said he does not want to acquire any German newspapers and is thought to have reiterated this to Chancellor Schroeder.

Analysts say Mr Murdoch is likely to prefer to pick up the free-to-air ProSeiben and Sat1 TV channels, but not loss making Premiere pay-TV.

Creditors gather

News Corp is only one of a list of creditors circling around KirchGruppe, which is now beleaguered on all fronts.

It expanded rapidly during the 1990s, taking on debt to buy expensive sports rights which have yielded relatively poor revenues, and setting up Premiere.

ProSieben Sat 1 last week postponed its merger with broadcast rights arm KirchMedia.

ProSieben Sat 1's decision to abandon Kirch did not come as a surprise.

Half the voting rights in the broadcaster are held by the Axel Springer publishing group, which recently shocked Kirch by invoking a so-called put option, which forces Kirch to buy back Springer's stake in ProSieben Sat 1 for 767m euros (�460m).

KirchGruppe owns 40% of Axel Springer, but can not sell this stake as it is the security for a loan from Deutsche Bank.

And several banks that provide loans to Kirch Gruppe have already gone on record that they will not continue to support the firm much longer.

Leo Kirch made his fortune by buying up the German language television rights of many Hollywood movies during the 1960s and 1970s.