NMa Approves Acquisition of Canal+ by UPC

Chellomedia Programming B.V., a subsidiary of UPC, may acquire the (film and sport) content for pay-per-view television from Canal+ N.V., including Canal+'s cable customers. The Netherlands Competition Authority (NMa) reached this conclusion after an in-depth investigation. UPC offers television, broadband Internet, and telephony services, mainly through its cable network. Canal+ is the largest supplier of pay-per-view television in the Netherlands.

NMa does not expect this acquisition to restrict competition on the market for pay-per-view television and the market for procurement rights of films in the top segment. UPC's present pay-per-view television activities are limited. In addition, new players are entering the market for pay-per-view television and the large film studios have a strong position relative to the buyers of film rights. In addition, UPC can be obliged to provide other parties with access to its cable network on the basis of the regulations of the telecommunications regulator, OPTA. OPTA has announced that it also wishes to impose these obligations in the future. It also appears that competitive infrastructure providers are investing increasingly in alternative networks, such as xDSL, satellite and wireless. Finally, it appears that it is not essential for other television providers to have access to the content of Canal+ for them to be able to offer a sufficiently interesting package.

In February of this year, NMa decided that a licence was required for the realisation of this merger. The acquisition could possibly have resulted in UPC's restricting other (new) providers of pay-per-view television from developing on this market or in UPC's not providing competing infrastructure providers with the programmes of Canal+. In its subsequent investigation, NMa investigated the effects on competition of the acquisition.