Brussels, 12/02/2003 (Agence Europe) - The Commissioner for competition, Mario Monti told the press that his services were currently in talks with News Corp and Telecom Italia over their plan to acquire the pay television operator Telepiu. This operation, tat is currently the subject of an in-depth investigation on the pat of the Commission, raises concerns relating to the pay television market in Italy, where the operation risks creating close to a monopoly given that Steam (the subsidiary of the pay television held equally by News Corp and Telecom Italia) and Telepiu are currently the only providers of pay television in the country. the parties to the transaction are currently attempting to gain the go-ahead from the Commission by submitting remedies to the relevant authorities. News Corp is thus said to have proposed selling programmes to other broadcasters (see EUROPE of 2/3 December, p.13). "They have submitted a package of remedies so as to resolve the problem of competition in Italy, and there have been talks over future concessions", says Monti. The Commission is thus said to be pushing News Corp to make further proposals before considering the issue in a favourable light. Mr. Monti added that there was still no conclusion to this operation.
According to the Dow Jones, the businessman Rupert Murdoch, CEO of News Corp, is said to have met the Italian minister of Communications Maurizio Gaspari on Tuesday, as well as the head of the Italian communications authority Enzo Cheli and Telepiu managers to discuss with them measures taking account of the concerns of the European authorities. As a reminder, the deadline for a decision has been set for 14 April.