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The Czech received the Bulgarian media in a package with Romanian, Czech, Slovak and Slovenian televisions
The European Commission has allowed the fund of Czech billionaire Petr Kellner (pictured) – PPF, to acquire the company – owner of BTV – Central European Media Companies (“CME”) announced the commission on its website. The agreement is in line with EU merger rules, the EC added. “The Commission has concluded that the transaction will not raise competition concerns in the European Economic Area,” the statement said.
After the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Competition unconditionally approved the acquisition of Central European Media Enterprises (CME) by PPF Group, the media company itself officially announcedthat the deal will be completed in a week, on October 13.
Kellner’s SME acquisition process started about 2 years ago, after the Bulgarian Commission for the Protection of Competition rejected a PPF with Nova TV worth 185 million euros. Then the richest man in the Czech Republic addressed the other television group, which, in addition to BTV, includes others led by CME TVs in the Czech Republic, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. The announced cost of acquiring SMEs a year ago was $ 2.1 billion.
The EC statement said that during the investigation into the effect of buying and selling, the commission received comments from a large number of customers and competitors. “PPF and CME are active both in the acquisition of sports broadcasting rights in the Czech Republic and Slovakia and in the sale of advertising space in the Czech Republic. At the same time, the two companies are active at different levels of the value chain. CME is active mainly as a TV channel wholesaler in several Member States, while PPF offers retail telecommunications and audiovisual services in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. According to its market investigation, the Commission has reached the conclusion that the transaction will not affect companies in these markets. ”
With regard to Bulgaria, the EC considers that “CME will stop providing television advertising space to PPF’s competitors in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The Commission also found that there would be a sufficient number of alternative television channels with a comparable audience and a list of comparable advertising in the market. “
The statement added that “PPF will no longer acquire advertising space from CME’s competitors in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The Commission has established that PPF will continue to buy advertising space from third countries and that in any case the broadcaster will have enough other clients of television advertising space. ”
The motives of the European antitrust authorities differ radically from the CCP’s controversial arguments, with which the commission did not allow Kellner to enter the Bulgarian media market about 2.5 years ago and buy Nova TV. On the other hand, in March 2019, the CPC agreed in record time that Nova would become the property of the company “Advance Media Group”, controlled by the brothers Kiril and Georgi Domuschievi. In 2020, approval to add Channel 3 and several other radios and televisions, considered extremely close to MP Delyan Peevski, to Domuschiev’s media ownership came even faster.
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