Premiere says interested in buying Sat.1 channel-paper

FRANKFURT, April 6 (Reuters) - German pay-TV broadcaster Premiere (PREGn.DE: Quote, Profile, Research) is interested in buying Sat.1, one of the channels of free-to-air broadcaster ProSiebenSat.1 (PSMG_p.DE: Quote, Profile, Research), Premiere's chief executive told business daily Handelsblatt.

"We are interested in buying Sat.1. The Berlin broadcaster would fit us perfectly," Michael Boernicke told the newspaper in comments released on Sunday ahead of publication on Monday.

ProSiebenSat.1 has not given any indication that Sat.1 may be up for sale. "There are no talks about that," Handelsblatt quoted a ProSiebenSat.1 spokeswoman as saying.

Boernicke's comments run contrary to long-running speculation that Premiere will be the target of a takeover, which was again stoked on Friday when Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. (NWSa.N: Quote, Profile, Research) said it had raised its stake in Premiere to 23 percent.

It first bought 15 percent in Premiere in January and raised that to 20 percent in February, but a source familiar with the matter has told Reuters that News Corp. does not want to reach the 30 percent that would trigger a compulsory takeover offer.

News Corp's current 23 percent would give it a voting majority at Premiere's upcoming annual shareholder meeting in June, based on previous attendance levels.

Premiere's main draw is showing live games of the Bundesliga, Germany's top soccer league. Entertainment channel Sat.1, one of dozens of free-to-air channels in Germany, shows popular U.S. drama series as well as movies, comedies and sports. (Reporting by Georgina Prodhan, Editing by Maureen Bavdek)