Liberty Global has offered to sell its premium channel business Film1 in an attempt to win EU approval for its proposed acquisition of Ziggo.
According to a report by Reuters, the company also promised not to block either contractually or technically OTT service providers from accessing its broadband network for four years.
The European Commission is currently investigating the acquisition of the largest Dutch cable operator Ziggo by Liberty Global, who already owns UPC, the country’s second largest cabler. The commission as asked market parties to submit feedback on the proposed merger.
Film1 is Liberty Global’s premium movie channel business in the Netherlands, which competes with HBO, a joint venture between Ziggo and HBO Europe. The merger would leave only one premium movie channel business in the country.
Liberty Global earlier sold its Chellomedia channel business to AMC Networks, but the Dutch premium channels Film1 and Sport1 were not part of the deal.
The Commission is expecteded to decide on the acquisition by October 17.
