NEW YORK/BERLIN (Reuters) – Sony Corp (6758.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) took the wraps off its long-awaited tablets on Wednesday with price tags that could hurt the company’s chances to compete for the No. 2 spot in the tablet market.

Sony’s basic model of its main tablet costs $499, the same as Apple’s iPad.

NEW YORK/BERLIN, Aug 31 (Reuters) – Sony Corp (6758.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) took
the wraps off a new tablet that functions as a universal
remote, and another one that folds like a clamshell, hoping to
distinguish its devices from scores of others already on the
market.

The Japanese company is coming late to the game with its
first tablet due to hit store shelves in September. Its release
is more than a year and a half since Apple Inc (AAPL.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz)
released the iPad and almost a year since Samsung (005930.KS: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz)
came out with its first GalaxyTab (005930.KS: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz).

By Nicola Leske

(Reuters) – A German court will decide on Thursday whether Samsung can sell its latest iPad rival in Germany after an preliminary injunction requested by Apple barred the South Korean company from selling its new Galaxy tablets in Europe’s biggest economy earlier this month.

The two companies are locked in patent fights across the globe — in Europe, the United States and Asia.

FRANKFURT, Aug 12 (Reuters) – German pay-TV broadcaster Sky
Deutschland (SKYDn.DE: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) won more customers than expected as it
narrowed losses in the second quarter, slowly inching towards
its target of about 3 million subscribers.

Sky Deutschland, formerly known as Premiere, in which News
Corp holds a 49.9 percent stake, has struggled to find
growth in a country where people are reluctant to pay extra for
television amid a large choice of free channels.

BONN, Germany, Aug 4 (Reuters) – German commercial
broadcaster ProSieben (PSMG_p.DE: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) flagged moderate growth in its
core TV advertising market this year, unsettling investors and
overshadowing a 7 percent rise in quarterly profit.

Traders said Chief Executive Thomas Ebeling’s comments on
the outlook knocked ProSieben’s shares, which were down 9.2
percent at 1203 GMT. The German mid-cap index was down
2.8 percent.

BONN, Germany, Aug 4 (Reuters) – Deutsche Telekom is on track to meet its 2011 targets, it said on Thursday, despite a poor performance in the United States, continued economic weakness in southeastern Europe and sluggish growth in Germany.

The Bonn-based group is in the throes of retrenching as a regional European player and awaits regulatory approval for the sale of its ailing U.S. business to AT&T for 39 billion euros ($55.7 billion).

MUNICH, July 25 (Reuters) – German pay TV company Sky
Deutschland (SKYDn.DE: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), part-owned by scandal-ridden News Corp
(NWSA.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), has sufficient capital to last until it turns
profitable, its Chief Financial Officer said.

“We’re totally OK on funding to go to break even,” Steven
Tomsic told Reuters in an interview.

MUNICH, July 25 (Reuters) – German pay TV company Sky
Deutschland (SKYDn.DE: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), part-owned by scandal-ridden News Corp
(NWSA.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), has sufficient capital to burn until it breaks even,
its Chief Financial Officer said.

“We’re totally ok on funding to go to break even,” CFO
Steven Tomsic told Reuters in an interview.

FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Norway’s Telenor and Britain’s Vodafone are expected to outshine their European telecom peers as the sector struggles with weak economies and forced price cuts.

Analysts are braced for a slew of poor second-quarter results, starting with Nordic operator TeliaSonera on Wednesday.

FRANKFURT (Reuters) – German media tycoon Leo Kirch died on Thursday after years of illness and without ever resolving his protracted battle with Deutsche Bank, one of Germany’s most bitter, drawn-out corporate disputes.

“Our beloved husband, father, brother, Dr. Leo Kirch died peacefully today in the company of his family. We are very sad,” the family said in a brief statement on Thursday.