Netherlands Competition Authority conditionally approves acquisition of SBS Netherlands by Sanoma and Talpa

The Netherlands Competition Authority (NMa) has conditionally approved the acquisition of the Dutch activities of media company SBS Netherlands by Sanoma and Talpa. The condition that the NMa has set is that Talpa, owned by media magnate John de Mol, must sell its minority interest in broadcaster RTL Netherlands within three years, and that, until then, it must transfer its shares in RTL Netherlands to an independent trust foundation. This way, the NMa will prevent Talpa from exerting substantial influence over both SBS and RTL’s strategies simultaneously, and thus from potentially gaining a competitive advantage.

With the acquisition, Talpa will have an interest in SBS. Since 2007, Talpa has also had a minority interest in RTL, as well as a cooperation agreement with the RTL Group. As a result, Talpa may have influence over RTL. Henk Don, member of the Board of the NMa, explains: ‘That would be an undesirable situation. Talpa, as a producer of TV content, would be able to exclude its competitors from access to SBS and RTL. In addition, this may decrease competition between RTL and SBS, two of the Netherlands’ biggest broadcasters. Ultimately, freedom of choice of viewers could be reduced. By transferring its interest in RTL to a third party, and eventually selling that interest, Talpa’s sphere of influence remains limited to SBS.’ The board of the aforementioned independent trust foundation reports to the NMa.

The investigation into the acquisition’s effects has further revealed that there are no antitrust concerns with regard to the other markets Sanoma and SBS operate in. For example, Sanoma, whose minority participation ‘Bindinc BV’ already publishes the TV listings magazines of three other Dutch TV stations, will acquire the TV listings magazines of SBS Netherlands, including Veronica Magazine, one of the largest magazines in the Netherlands. However, the contents and target audiences of these magazines differ from each other to such a degree that the acquisition will not have any effect on the competition between TV listings magazines. In addition, the acquisition will not generate any antitrust concerns on the distribution market for single-copy magazine sales, such as TV listings magazines.

(Source: NMa via Media Network Weblog)