German pay TV channel says on the blink until 2011

German pay-TV channel Premiere, recently saved from bankruptcy by US media baron Rupert Murdoch, said it would not return to profitability until 2011 as subscriber numbers plunge.

Premiere said its net loss in the first three months of the year was nearly four times worse than during the same period last year — at 80 million euros (108 million dollars), compared to 28.1 million euros in 2008.

The channel continued to bleed subscribers, with 2.37 million at the end of March, 28,000 fewer than at the end of 2008.

Premiere has been struggling since losing the rights to show German top-flight football in 2005, although it recently secured the rights for the next four seasons.

The firm was saved from bankruptcy in December by Murdoch, whose News Corp now owns 30.5 percent of the German channel, through a capital increase of more than 400 million euros.