Australia's competition regulator has raised concerns that the planned A$2 billion (US$2.17 billion) takeover of pay TV operator Austar by rival Foxtel, part owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, could hurt competition on three fronts, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission today delayed its decision on Foxtel's bid until September, indicating that it sees problems in the bid even proceeding at all.
The ACCC said that its preliminary view is that the acquisition would substantially lessen competition in pay TV, the market for buying programmes and that for the supply of telecommunications products because Foxtel is half owned by Telstra.
Austar shares crashed on the news, losing as much as 17 percent in early trading.
A blocking of Foxtel's bid for Austar, which is majority owned by Liberty Global, would deal another blow to the pay-TV ambitions of billionaire Rupert Murdoch.
The US-based tycoon earlier this month had to ditch his multi-billion dollar bid for the remaining stake in Britain's dominant BSkyB pay TV operator in the wake of the widening scandal involving one of News Corp's UK newspapers, the News of the World.
Foxtel is half owned by Telstra, with the remaining half split between News Corp and billionaire James Packer's Consolidated Media Holdings.
(Source : Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union)
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