The plenary at the Spanish regulator CNMC has officially approved the acquisition of a 56% stake in Canal+ by Telefónica.
However, reports El Economista, the approval is still subject to conditions, most of which have already been disclosed to the parties involved.
The most controversial point is the percentage of premium channels, set at 50%, that Telefónica is obliged to make available to competitors through a wholesale offer. It is highly unlikely that this will be changed.
What will come under scrutiny will nevertheless be the conditions for assessing the price of the content.
The CNMC has also taken into account the boom of OTT companies providing services over telecom networks.
At the same time, it has raised fears about the reduction to what will only be three main telcos in Spain – Telefónica, Vodafone and Orange – follow the latter’s merger with Jazztel. Competition will only be improved following the launch of a fourth player.
Significantly, the CNMC has identified 14 cities in Spain that have at least three operators with their own fibre networks.
There, Telefónica will not be required to open its network to competition.