Premiere CEO Michael Börnicke has asked the German pay-TV platform’s supervisory board to release him from his contract and to accept his immediate resignation.
Börnicke’s decision comes just a year after the former finance director replaced the charismatic Dr Georg Kofler as head of the company.
Since that time News Corp has built up a controlling interest in Premiere and in June News Corp executives Mark Williams and Tom Mockridge were appointed to the supervisory board. News Corp may use its influence to place its own man at the top of the company.
Although Premiere has suffered significant piracy issues, due in part to the so-called patchable receivers, Börnicke will leave his post confident that the issue is close to resolution.
