Media mogul Rupert Murdoch is buying a 34% stake in German TV-channel TM3 from Germany's Tele-Muenchen Group for $168m, taking over the operation 100%.

Despite repeated denials that he was considering the move, Tele-Muenchen managing director Herbert Kloiber is reportedly selling his stake after repeated attempts to find an audience for the channel. TM3, originally launched as a women's channel, became a sports outlet in its latest incarnation.

TM3's head of sports Michael Pfad told local newspaper the Bild am Sonntag: "It's very disappointing that we couldn't bring the job to a close."

The channel's soccer games are now expected to pass to pay-TV platform Leo Kirch and Murdoch's Premiere World and commercial broadcaster RTL after the Euro 2000 cup final on 24th May. According to an article in the Sueddeutsche Zeitung, Murdoch plans to turn TM3 into a fitness channel.

Kloiber is now turning his attention to pay-TV. In a challenge to Premiere World, he has allied with cable operators Primacom and UPC with a bid for pay-TV rights to German league soccer.

Norbert Schneider, head of the country's commercial broadcasting overseer Landesmedienanstalten, has signalled his agreement to TM3's change of ownership and subject material.