European Commission authorises BSkyB's acquisition of Sky Deutschland and Sky Italia

The acquisition project by the British pay-TV group BSkyB of Sky Deutschland and Sky Italia was authorised by the European Commission "under the EU Merger Regulation," announced the commission on 11/09/2014.

"The Commission concluded that the transaction would not raise competition concerns, since the activities of the three companies are geographically complementary. (...) BSkyB's activities are mainly focused in the UK and Ireland, Sky Deutschland's activities are mainly focused in Germany and Austria and Sky Italia's activities are mainly focused in Italy."

The European Commission also noted "that it was unlikely that the merged company would be able to impose a change from current licensing practices, which are focused on national territories or language areas, towards the joint purchase or simultaneous negotiations for premium content across several countries."

BSkyB announced on 25/07/2014 that it had come to an agreement to buy the American media group 21^st Century Fox's shares in the Italian pay-TV group Sky Italia (100%) and in its German sister company Sky Deutschland…