The European Commission has given its unconditional approval to Comcast’s proposed acquisition of Sky.
It said the approval under EU merger regulation did not raise any competition concerns.
Comcast has bid £22 billion for Sky, a 16% mark-up on the valuation under the £11.7 billion bid from Fox for the 61% in Sky it doesn’t already own.
While Comcast and Sky compete together for content to offer on their TV channels, as well as their wholesale supply, the Commission found that the proposed transaction would lead to only a limited increase in Sky’s existing share of the markets for the acquisition of TV content.
In a statement the Commission said it does not believe Comcast would be able to prevent or significantly limit access by Sky’s competitors to its films and other TV content or to its TV channels.
It goes on to say Sky would not have the incentive to cease purchasing content from Comcast’s competitors. The merged companies’ ability to shut out Comcast’s rivals was significantly mitigated by existing regulations in the UK, Germany and Austria.
In April, the Commission also cleared unconditionally 21st Century Fox’s offer for Sky.
