The European Commission has set a deadline of November 3, 2014, to decide on Liberty Global’s proposed takeover of Dutch cable operator Ziggo.
On August 4, EU regulators put a temporary halt to their review of Liberty Global’s proposed purchase of Dutch cablenet Ziggo, after Liberty Global submitted concessions to the European Commission, including the offer to sell its premium Film1 business and not to block OTT platforms such as Netflix from having access to its network for a period of four years.
The original deadline was October 17, but with the investigation now resumed, the new deadline was posted on the website of the EC’s competition department.
The Commission wants to establish if the acquisition is in line with the EU Merger Regulation. Liberty Global – through its subsidiary UPC – and Ziggo both own a cable network in the Netherlands. Ziggo is the country’s largest cable operator and Liberty Global’s UPC the second biggest.
Both companies also operate a premium pay-TV film channel in the Netherlands, UPC Film1 and Ziggo HBO.
