German digital pay TV platform Premiere World's breakthrough with consumers is set to be delayed by another 1 - 1 ' years, according to the KirchGroup's Dieter Hahn in an interview with the German daily newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung.

Although not wishing to give exact figures, he declared that the platform currently has "over two million digital subscribers", but that "the critical mass is about four million subscribers." Hahn admitted that the growth in subscriptions to Premiere World could develop better: "We don't actually have as many as we would like. But we have achieved a substantial growth in the last one-and-half years which shows that the potential is there in Germany".

He suggested that "the breakthrough will certainly be put back 1 - 1 ' years. There are still many problems. We have undertaken a long discussion about technology in Germany, which was oriented to the wishes of the politicians rather than of the consumers". Commenting on the planned stockmarket flotation of KirchMedia, Hahn suggested that the listing, which had originally been set for this year, "will take place in 2002 or 2003".