Two German publishing groups have said they will bid for the insolvent media firm KirchMedia, putting themselves up against a rival bid by Commerzbank.

The offer is being put forward by publishers Axel Springer Verlag and Heinrich Bauer Verlag.

KirchMedia was one of the three main divisions of the Kirch Group, but filed for insolvency in April this year.

"The consortium is reviewing the economic conditions of such an engagement," the groups said in a joint statement.

"The decisive criteria of this review are an attractive price and the final structure of the new KirchMedia."

Axel Springer is the country's biggest newspaper publisher, while Bauer publishes magazines.

The two firms said they aimed to get a 51% stake in KirchMedia when it emerged from restructuring.

They said they were open to other investors joining their bid.

Commerzbank has formed another group to bid for KirchMedia which includes the US media group Colombia TriStar.

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The Kirch Group was once one of Europe's most admired companies, and its failure has been a huge blow to German business.

The company spent billions of borrowed euros on rights for a number of prime sporting occasions, including Formula One and the football World Cup.

The rights were intended to underpin sales at the pay-TV business, but subscription levels failed to bring in sufficient revenue.

As the global economic slowdown took its toll on Kirch's traditional media assets - ranging from film-licensing ventures to newspapers - the failure of pay-TV dragged the rest of the group down.