The Slovenian Competition Protection Agency (AVK) is set to reject the proposed sale of CME-owned Pro Plus, the operator of the TV stations Kanal A and Pop TV, to United Group.
In a statement, AKV says it intends to issue a decision on the non-conformity of the deal with competition rules. In its view, it could lead to horizontal effects on the TV ad market, the market for the purchase of TV sports rights and the wholesale market for the supply of children’s TV programmes.
A merged Pro Plus/United Media would be able to carry out bundled sales of all TV programmes. It could also raise royalties, exclude competitive TV programmes and obtain sensitive business information about its competitors, giving it a significant competitive advantage.
United Group has now been given 45 days to respond, after which the AVK will make a final decision. United Group says it expects this decision to be made in accordance with standards of EU competition law.
As previously reported by Broadband TV News>, CME first announced that it planned to sell its operations in Croatia and Slovenia, in a cash deal worth €230 million, to Slovenia Broadband, a subsidiary of United Group, in July 2017.
The Croatian part of the sale was finalised earlier this year.
