EU Clears Liberty Global's Acquisition of Stake in De Vijver Media

   By Tom Fairless 
 

BRUSSELS--Liberty Global PLC (LBTYA) won European Union approval for its purchase of a controlling stake in De Vijver Media of Belgium, subject to conditions, the second deal by billionaire John Malone's international cable group that had come under scrutiny from regulators in Brussels.

Liberty has been driving consolidation in Europe's fragmented telecoms industry, seeking to profit from rising demand for bundles of TV, telecoms and broadband services.

The London-based company owns a majority stake in Belgium's biggest cable company, Telenet, while De Vijver owns two of Belgium's Dutch-language TV channels, Vier and Vijf.

The European Commission, the bloc's top antitrust regulator, had worried that the deal could encourage De Vijver to refuse to license its channels to TV distributors that compete with Telenet.

To address those concerns, the merging parties agreed to license Vier and Vijf to any interested TV distributor in Belgium under fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms. They also agreed to license linked services such as catch-up TV, as well as any new pay TV channel that De Vijver might launch under Telenet's basic channel package in the future.

"It is important that consumers can choose among TV distributors competing on [an] equal and fair basis," the EU's antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager said in a statement. "The commitments will ensure this since Telenet's competitors will be able to distribute Vier and Vijf and offer these channels to their customers."

The commitments will be in place for seven years, the commission said.

Liberty has acquired businesses from Romania to Ireland over the past decade, including the $16-billion purchase of U.K. cable-television and Internet provider Virgin Media in 2013.

In November, Liberty secured approval from regulators in Brussels for its EUR10 billion acquisition of Dutch cable operator Ziggo NV, a deal that created a business that reaches 90% of Dutch homes.

Write to Tom Fairless at [e-mail]

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