Eu Competition Policy in the Media Sector Commission
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EUROPEAN COMMISSION Competition DG Information, communication and multimedia Media March 2005 EU COMPETITION POLICY IN THE MEDIA SECTOR COMMISSION DECISIONS (Compilation 2005) This compilation assembles decisions of the European Commission in the media sector for ease of reference. The compilation comprises formal Commission decisions on the basis of Articles 81 and 82 (Council Regulation No 17 of 6 February 1962 implementing Articles 85 and 86 of the EEC Treaty and, as of 1st May 2004, Council Regulation (EC) No 1/2003 of 16 December 2002 on the implementation of the rules on competition laid down in Articles 81 and 82 of the Treaty1) and decisions under the EU's Merger Regulation (Council Regulation (EEC) No 4064/89 of 21 December 1989 and Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 of 20 January 2004 on the control of concentrations between undertakings2) and under the EC Competition Law State Aid rules. The compilation is selective: not all formal decisions in the media sector are reproduced. In particular a number of decisions based on article 6(1)(b) of Council Regulation (EEC) No 4064/89 are not reproduced. For more complete information, reference should be made to DG Competition's website: http://europa.eu.int/comm/dgs/competition/. In addition to the formal decisions this compilation includes a table of recent DG COMP press releases and speeches3 in the media sector. It also includes reprints of the most important Communications and EC directives on media. For further information concerning these directives, please refer to the following websites: • DG Information Society and Media - http://europa.eu.int/comm/dgs/information_society/ • DG Internal Market - http://europa.eu.int/comm/dgs/internal_market/. Only European Union legislation published in the paper editions of the Official Journal of the European Communities is deemed authentic. 1 Council Regulation No 17 of 6 February OJ, No 13, 21.2.1962, p.204, as last amended by Council Regulation (EC) No 1216/1999 of 10 June 1999, OJ L 148, 15.6.1999, p. 5. Council Regulation (EC) No 1/2003 of 16 December 2002 OJ L 1, 4.1.2003, p. 1 replaced Regulation 17/62 when it came into application on 1.5.2004. 2 Council Regulation (EEC) No 4064/89 of 21 December 1989 OJ L 395, 30.12.1989, p.1, as amended by Council Regulation (EC) No 1310/97 of 30 June 1997, OJ L 180, 9.7.1997, p. 1 and Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 of 20 January 2004 OJ L 24, 29.1.2004, p 1. 3 Please note that the opinions expressed are personal and only engage the author. EU Competition policy in the Media Sector 2 08/04/2005 I N D E X Chronological list of Decisions in the Media sector 4 List of Recent Press Releases 16 List of Recent Speeches 20 Communications and EC Directives in the audiovisual field (selective) 23 Other internet sites of relevance to the Media sector 26 EU Competition policy in the Media Sector 3 08/04/2005 Chronological list of decisions in the Media sector This volume covers the period January 1998 – March 2005 Court case No. Name Date Type OJ M.1081 DOW JONES / NBC - 22.01.1998 Merger: C 083, 18.03.1998 CNBC EUROPE Art. 6(1)(b) p. 4 non-opposition M.1022 CABLE I TELEVISIO 28.01.1998 Merger: C 101, 03.04.1998 DE CATALUNYA Art. 6(1)(b) p. 31 (CTC) non-opposition M.1091 CABLEUROPA / 28.01.1998 Merger: C 097, 31.03.1998 SPAINCO / CTC Art. 6(1)(b) p. 8 non-opposition JV.1 TELIA / TELENOR / 27.05.1998 Merger: C 220, 31.07.1999 SCHIBSTED Art. 6(1)(b) p. 28 non-opposition M.993 BERTELSMANN / 27.05.1998 Merger: L 053, 27.02.1999 KIRCH / PREMIERE Art. 8(3) p. 1 incompatibility M.1027 DEUTSCHE 27.05.1998 Merger: L 053, 27.02.1999 TELEKOM / Art. 8(3) p. 31 BETARESEARCH incompatibility JV.5 CEGETEL / CANAL + / 04.08.1998 Merger: C 024, 28.01.2000 AOL / Art. 6(1)(b) p. 4 BERTELSMANN non-opposition M.1275 HAVAS / 27.08.1998 Merger: C 139, 19.05.1999 BERTELSMANN / Art. 6(1)(b) p. 4 DOYMA non-opposition M.1219 SEAGRAM / 21.09.1998 Merger: C 309, 09.10.1998 POLYGRAM Art. 6(1)(b) p. 8 non-opposition M.1401 RECOLETOS / 01.02.1999 Merger: C 073, 17.03.1999 UNEDISA Art. 6(1)(b) p. 8 non-opposition M.1411 DEUTSCHE BANK / 03.02.1999 Merger: C 060, 02.03.1999 CORAL Art. 6(1)(b) p. 10 non-opposition M.1377 BERTELSMANN / 15.02.1999 Merger: C 122, 04.05.1999 WISSENSCHAFTSVE Art. 6(1)(b) p. 19 RLAG SPRINGER non-opposition EU Competition policy in the Media Sector 4 08/04/2005 Court case No. Name Date Type OJ NN 70/98 STATE AID TO 24.02.1999 State aid: C 238, 21.08.1999 PUBLIC Authorisation p. 3 BROADCASTING CHANNELS 'KINDERKANAL' AND 'PHOENIX' 36.237 TPS 03.03.1999 Antitrust: L 090, 02.04.1999 T-112/99 exemption with p. 6 condition/ obligation M.1488 WILLIAM HILL / 26.03.1999 Merger: C 109, 20.04.1999 CINVEN / CVC Art. 6(1)(b) p. 5 non-opposition M.1455 GRUNER + JAHR / 20.04.1999 Merger: C 247, 31.08.1999 FINANCIAL TIMES / Art. 6(1)(b) p. 5 JV non-opposition JV.16 BERTELSMANN / 05.05.1999 Merger: C 186, 02.07.1999 VIAG / GAME Art. 6(1)(b) p. 8 CHANNEL non-opposition M.1459 BERTELSMANN / 06.05.1999 Merger: C 176, 22.06.1999 HAVAS / BOL Art. 6(1)(b) p. 11 non-opposition M.1574 KIRCH / MEDIASET 03.08.1999 Merger: C 255, 08.09.1999 Art. 6(1)(b) p. 3 non-opposition 36.539 BRITISH 15.09.1999 Antitrust: L 312, 06.12.1999 INTERACTIVE exemption with p. 1 BROADCASTING condition/ obligation NN 88/98 FINANCING OF A 24- 29.09.1999 State aid: C 78, 18.03.2000 HOUR Authorisation p. 6 ADVERTISING-FREE NEWS CHANNEL WITH LICENCE FEE BY BBC M.1439 TELIA / TELENOR 13.10.1999 Merger: L 040, 09.02.2001 Art. 8(2) with p. 1 conditions & obligations M.1701 GRUNER + JAHR / 24.11.1999 Merger: C 009, 13.01.2000 DEKRA / FAIRCAR Art. 6(1)(b) p. 8 non-opposition EU Competition policy in the Media Sector 5 08/04/2005 No. Name Date Type OJ Court case JV.33 HEARST / VNU 15.12.1999 Merger: C 143, 16.05.2001 Art. 6(1)(b) p. 7 non-opposition JV.30 BVI TELEVISION 03.02.2000 Merger: C 095, 04.04.2000 (EUROPE) / SPE Art. 6(1)(b) p. 3 EUROMOVIES non-opposition INVESTMENTS / EUROPE MOVIECO PARTNERS JV.39 BERTELSMANN / 28.02.2000 Merger: C 125, 04.05.2000 PLANETA / NEB Art. 6(1)(b) p. 10 non-opposition JV.37 B SKY B / KIRCH PAY 21.03.2000 Merger: C 110, 15.04.2000 T-158/00 TV Art. 6(2) with p. 45 conditions & obligations M.1889 CLT-UFA / CANAL+ / 21.03.2000 Merger: C 134, 13.05.2000 VOX Art. 6(1)(b) p. 13 non-opposition 32.150 EUROVISION 10.05.2000 Antitrust: L 151, 24.06.2000 T-185/00, exemption with p. 18 + T-216/00, condition/ IP/00/472 T-299/00, obligation T-300/00 (11.6.1993) (L 179, C-470/02 (22.7.1993) p. 23) JV.45 BERTELSMANN / 12.05.2000 Merger: C 212, 25.07.2000 KOOPERATIVA Art. 6(1)(b) p. 15 FÖRBUNDET / BOL non-opposition NORDIC JV.40 CANAL+ / 22.06.2000 Merger: C 002, 05.01.2001 LAGARDERE / Art. 6(1)(b) p. 2 CANALSATELLITE non-opposition M.1958 BERTELSMANN / 29.06.2000 Merger: C 180, 26.06.2001 GBL / PEARSON TV Art. 6(1)(b) p. 14 non-opposition JV.48 VODAFONE / 20.07.2000 Merger: C 118, 20.05.2003 VIVENDI / CANAL Art. 6(2) with p. 25 + PLUS conditions & IP/00/821 obligations M.1943 TELEFONICA / 11.07.2000 Merger: C 235, 17.08.2000 ENDEMOL Art. 6(1)(b) p. 6 non-opposition EU Competition policy in the Media Sector 6 08/04/2005 No. Name Date Type OJ Court case M.2147 VNU / HEARST / 25.09.2000 Merger: C 016, 18.01.2001 STRATOSFERA Art. 6(1)(b) p. 7 non-opposition M.1845 AOL / TIME WARNER 11.10.2000 Merger: L 268, 09.10.2001 Art. 8(2) with p. 28 conditions & obligations M.2050 VIVENDI / CANAL+ / 13.10.2000 Merger: C 311, 31.10.2000 SEAGRAM Art. 6(2) with p. 3 conditions & obligations M.2165 GRUNER+JAHR / 27.10.2000 Merger: C 196, 12.07.2001 PUBLIGROUPE / G+J Art. 6(1)(b) p. 6 MEDIEN non-opposition M.2124 ISP / ESPN / 04.12.2000 Merger: C 190, 06.07.2001 GLOBOSAT - JV Art. 6(1)(b) p. 10 non-opposition M.2211 UNIVERSAL STUDIO 20.12.2000 Merger: C 363, 19.12.2001 NETWORKS / DE Art. 6(1)(b) p. 31 FACTO 829 (NTL) / non-opposition STUDIO CHANNEL LIMITED M.2336 THOMSON 28.02.2001 Merger: C 206, 24.07.2001 MULTIMEDIA / Art. 6(1)(b) p. 8 TECHNICOLOR non-opposition 37.576 UEFA'S 19.04.2001 Antitrust: L 171, 26.06.2001 BROADCASTING negative p. 12 REGULATIONS clearance M.2222 UGC / LIBERTY 24.04.2001 Merger: C 172, 16.06.2001 MEDIA Art. 6(1)(b) p. 20 non-opposition M.2407 BERTELSMANN / RTL 11.05.2001 Merger: C 291, 17.10.2001 GROUP Art.