The European Commission has paused its analysis of Liberty Global’s €4.9bn (US$6.6bn) acquisition of Dutch cableco Ziggo, which it intends to merge with its local operator UPC Netherlands.
Explaining the suspension, an EC spokesperson said:…
The European Commission has paused its analysis of Liberty Global’s €4.9bn (US$6.6bn) acquisition of Dutch cableco Ziggo, which it intends to merge with its local operator UPC Netherlands.
Explaining the suspension, an EC spokesperson said: “During our investigation of this merger, new facts have come to the Commission’s attention, which are important for the full assessment of the merger.
“The Commission has requested further information from Liberty Global, but Liberty Global has not, to date, submitted this information.”
The review has been suspended indefinitely and the EC will only restart the clock when Liberty supplies the further information the antitrust authority requires in full.
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 then requested a 20-day extension meaning the regulator had been set to rule on the merger by 17 October. Now that date looks set to be pushed back, although a Liberty Global spokesperson said the US-owned group still expected to complete the deal before the end of the year.
Liberty Global proposed remedies to the EC in early July. The package reportedly included offering to sell pay-TV channel Film1, and pledging not to block OTT service providers from accessing its internet network, either contractually or technically, for four years.
The regulator has said it is 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 barriers to entry.
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.
