Brussels, 22/12/2011 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 21 December, the European Commission cleared the proposed creation of HBO Nederland Coöperatief U.A., a joint venture to be controlled by Home Box Office Inc of the US and Ziggo B.V. of the Netherlands. The proposed joint venture will develop and operate new pay-TV channels in the Netherlands only. The Commission concluded that the proposed transaction would not raise competition concerns on any of the markets concerned; on the contrary, the proposed transaction will increase competition in the acquisition of pay-TV content and in the wholesale of pay-TV channels in the Netherlands.
HBO Nederland is a full-function joint venture that will be jointly controlled by HBO and Ziggo. It will develop and operate six new HBO-branded pay-TV channels mainly featuring films and other television shows and will be active in the Netherlands only.
The Commission examined the competitive effects of the proposed acquisition in a number of relevant markets along the TV sector value chain. It found that the overlaps between the activities of the parties and of the joint venture are very limited and that the transaction would not lead to the exclusion of competitors from the markets for the wholesale or retail of pay-TV channels in the Netherlands. Indeed, post transaction, sufficient quality content will remain available to competing pay-TV channels. Moreover, the joint venture will not have the possibility or the incentive to distribute its channels only via Ziggo's cable network, as this strategy would likely not be profit-maximising for the parties. Finally, there will be no possibility or the incentive for Ziggo to stop distributing third party pay-TV channels, as it will need to continue to offer mix of channels providing a wide choice to its customers.
The Commission concluded, therefore, that the transaction would not significantly impede effective competition in the European Economic Area (EEA) or any substantial part. (LC/transl.fl)