Nokia Roundup: Nokia Launches UK Music TV Program; German State Threatens To Sue Nokia

-- Nokia Launches UK Music TV Program: Another content foray for Nokia (NYSE: NOK). The Finnish handset giant is launching a music TV program on Channel 4 in the UK with extra footage and exclusive music tracks available on Nokia handsets and online through the Nokia Music Store, reports Marketing Week. The 30-minute show, called the Nokia Green Room, is being co-funded by the handset maker and by Channel 4, and will be broadcast on the weekends during the T4 youth-targeting scheduling slot, and during the week during the late-night 4music programmes. The programmes are being filmed in reality TV-style and will be repackaged for Nokia's other international markets.

-- German State Sues Nokia Over Subsidies: The German state government in North Rhine-Westphalia continues to press for the return of the subsidies it paid to Nokia to establish its Bochum-based mobile phone plant that it now intends to shut down, reports AP. The state is threatening to take legal action against the handset maker unless it pays up some 60 million euros ($92 million) that it says is the cost of the subsidies it granted to Nokia plus interest, claiming Nokia had violated the conditions of the subsidy, which called for the creation of a certain number of permanent jobs. The closure of the plant will put an estimated 2,300 people out of work. Today, the state gave Nokia until the end of March to pay them back.

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• Nokia To Close Germany Plant, Cut Up To 2,300 Jobs