The European Commission has recommenced its analysis of Liberty Global’s €4.9bn (US$6.6bn) acquisition of Dutch cableco Ziggo.
The antitrust authority has set a new provisional deadline of 3 November to finish its review of the transaction.
The…
The European Commission has recommenced its analysis of Liberty Global’s €4.9bn (US$6.6bn) acquisition of Dutch cableco Ziggo.
The antitrust authority has set a new provisional deadline of 3 November to finish its review of the transaction.
The EC halted the investigation on 4 August because it required further information from Liberty Global, which is planning to merge Ziggo with its local operator UPC Netherlands.
It has now resumed the process after the London-based group adjusted its promise not to block OTT service providers from accessing its internet network, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters.
The EC opened an in-depth phase II review into the tie-up in May due to concerns that it could lessen competition in a number of pay-TV and telecommunications markets in the Netherlands.
Liberty Global proposed remedies to the EC in early July. Its package reportedly included offering to sell pay-TV channel Film1, and pledging not to block OTT service providers from using its internet network, either contractually or technically, for four years.
A Bloomberg report published today said that Liberty Global is now poised to win regulatory approval after pledging to divest Film1, citing two people familiar with the EC’s probe.
The EU regulator previously said it was worried that even though Liberty Global and Ziggo’s cable networks do not overlap geographically, they exert indirect competitive pressure on each other. A merger between the two could create a high level of concentration and high entry barriers.
Specifically, the EC has concerns over how competition for acquisitions of individual Dutch language audio visual content and TV channels could be affected. It also has worries regarding the wholesale supply of premium TV film channels and the retail provision of fixed internet access, TV and fixed telephony services.
