Mr. Kirch’s media empire crumbled in 2002 under some $9.3 billion in debt following a money-losing venture into pay television and acquisitions that did not pay off.
Mr. Kirch launched himself on the road to success in 1956, borrowing money from his wife’s family to buy the German rights to Federico Fellini’s film “La Strada.’’
The film was a hit, and Mr. Kirch kept buying until he had the largest film library outside the United States, including the Buster Keaton library, Laurel and Hardy, and the Howard Hughes/RKO library with “King Kong’’ and “Citizen Kane.’’
Selling Hollywood to German state television made Mr. Kirch rich.
And when Kohl ushered in private television in the 1980s, Mr. Kirch moved to assemble television properties.
Kohl and his wife, Maike, said in a joint statement that “Leo Kirch was a great man, a great German’’ who “looked into the future before others even dreamed of it.’’
They said that they had “lost a true friend.’’
“The lifetime achievements and self-discipline of Leo Kirch fill us all, friends and critics, with respect,’’ said Governor Horst Seehofer of Bavaria. “He was a businessman with vision and the courage to take risks. That’s how he turned from a film trader into the engine of private broadcasting in Germany.’’
Mr. Kirch’s slide into bankruptcy stunned Germany a decade ago.
His group was hurt by big losses at pay-TV broadcaster Premiere, which was burning up cash fast while his successful businesses were leveraged to buy the rights to Formula One.
Pay television has been a difficult proposition in Germany, where households typically receive dozens of free channels.
The former Premiere - renamed Sky Deutschland in 2009 and now 49.9 percent-owned by Murdoch’s News Corp. - is still in the red, though it is narrowing its losses.
