Germany's KirchGroup has announced that it will now not acquire a 16.74% stake and minority voting rights of 25.1% in the debt-ridden EM.TV & Merchandising and has withdrawn its application to the German cartel authority "in agreement with EM.TV".

Earlier this year, the anti-trust authority had launched a three-month investigation into Kirch's plans to board EM.TV, and there had been an indication that the transaction would only be approved on the understanding that EM.TV parted company from its 45% stake in the Tele-Muenchen Group of Kirch rival Herbert Kloiber.

In spite of the KirchGroup's decision, EM.TV's new CEO Werner Klatten declared that "the KirchGroup will be a very important partner for EM.TV also in the future. A decision about an entry by the KirchGroup can be made at a later point in time".