A story as exciting as his own is something Leo Kirch would surely have liked to have in his film cellar. The son of a winemaker who works his way up to become a media mogul and then loses everything in the largest corporate bankruptcy in post-war German history. In his book, Markus Preiss analyzes how Leo Kirch's career became possible and describes in detail the unique aspects of media production that favored this development. This includes Kirch's many clever maneuvers, as he engaged in a bitter battle with ARD and ZDF over the acquisition of Hollywood rights for years—while also managing to sell the acquired rights back to the broadcasters. However, Kirch also made missteps. The most significant was probably his push for the expansion of private television. The establishment of new channels marked a turning point in the company's history.