Brussels, 14/06/2000 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission has opened a detailed inquiry into the merger between Time Warner and EMI in the musical sector. The Commission points out the inquiry will focus on three areas: 1) recorded music: the merger will lead to an oligopoly of four firms - Time Warner/EMI, Universal Music Group (Seagram, Canada), Bertelsmann Music Group and Sony Music - that will control around 80% of the EEA market; 2) music publishing: "Time Warner/EMI will control by far the largest number of copyrights in the world and would be considerably larger than the next largest competitor"; 3) digital delivery of music via the Internet, where Time Warner/EMI could hold a dominant position. This gives particular cause for concern if one takes into account the AOL/Time Warner merger, which is the subject of a separate inquiry, specifies the Commission.