The Dutch Competition Authority (NMa) has given its approval to the acquisition of SBS Netherlands by Sanoma and Talpa – on the condition that Talpa sells its minority interest in RTL Netherlands within three years.
In the short term its shares in the popular Dutch broadcaster must be placed in an independent trust. The NMa said this would ensure Talpa is prevented from exerting an influence over the strategies of both SBS and RTL.
“That would be an undesirable situation. Talpa, as a producer of TV content, would be able to exclude its competitors from access to SBS and RTL. In addition, this may decrease competition between RTL and SBS, two of the Netherlands’ biggest broadcasters,” explained NMa board member Henk Don.
The NMa investigation found no any other competition concerns in the other markets where Sanoma and SBS already have a presence. Sanoma, which already has a minority holding in Bindic already publishes three TV magazines, will on completion of the deal will take over publication of Veronica Magazine, one of the largest magazines in the Netherlands. However, the content and target audience of the magazines do not generate any antitrust issues.
The €1.225 billion bid for the broadcast channels belonging to the German ProSiebenSat.1 Group was announced in April. It also includes the SBS channels in Belgium.
The production business in The Netherlands and Belgium is not included in the transaction and will remain part of ProSiebenSat.1 Group.
