Spain: Telefónica proposal for the purchase of Canal+ España accepted by the regulator

Telefónica has proposed the creation of a platform which will mainly consist of the premium content of its pay-TV groups Movistar TV and Canal+. This service has been proposed in order to ensure and finalise the Spanish telecom operator's acquisition of 100% of the shares of the pay-TV operator DTS (Distribuidora de Televisión, the parent company of Canal+ España), according to the Spanish daily financial newspaper El Economista on 16/04/2015.

This proposal is a response to the conditions set out by the CNMC (Spanish National Market and the Competition Commission) for the purchase of Canal+ España, with the authority having raised the issue of the risk of a monopoly in Spain. Access to this content platform will be open to the operators ONO (Vodafone) and Orange as well as OTT and video-on-demand operators. The proposal was approved by the CNMC, which will give its approval to the completion of the acquisition (started on 06/03/2015) in the month of April 2015, according to El Economista.

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