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ACCC investigating Foxtel, FOX Sports merger.
ACCC to look at the impact of merger on competition and supply of sports content.
- Published by David Knox
- on
- Filed under Subscription
Consumer watchdog the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has launched an investigation into plans to merge Foxtel and FOS Sports.
FOX Sports is wholly owned by News Corp, while Telstra and News Corp currently share ownership of Foxtel 50-50.
Under the merger plans, News Corp will have 65% and Telstra 35% per cent of the new company, expected to be listed on the ASX.
The ACCC will look at the impact of the merger on competition, particularly the acquisition and supply of sports content and the supply of broadband and telecommunication services to consumers, with submissions open until October 27.
A decision is due on December 7.
Source: AAP
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7 Responses
And what impact (if it goes ahead) will this have on the viewers? Can’t think of anything myself…seems a bit of a non-story.
Hopefully they force them to share the content with other providers (eg, Fetch TV) as a condition. Not holding my breath though.
I don’t think they can force them. They’ve already started a FOX Sports programming block on ONE but it won’t go further than that.
So ACCC allowed Packer (who also owned 9) and Murdoch to have 50% each of the profitable Fox Sport which had a monopoly on subscription sports rights after they forced Optus out of the market and screwed around with Rugby League, Soccer and other sports. Yet they blocked Stokes from buying Packer’s stake because he owned 7 leaving Murdoch with 100% of Fox Sports. Now that Murdoch is reducing his stake to 65% this would less competition, at a time with subscription streaming of sports is taking off? Or are they worried that a 35% stake in Foxtel’s sports rights will give it an advantage over ESPN, Facebook, Google, Optus etc who can bid for internet rights to sports against them?
And after not enforcing retail and whole separation on Telstra when it had a monopoly on copper, they now think that Telstra lessening its stake of cable infrastructure from 100% to 65% at a time when…
Yes.
It makes much more sense when you look at all that alongside the media/communications environment at the various times they happened, and who the government (of the day, party is irrelevant) was trying to pander to.
In other words, it’s crooked beyond even your truncated recounting…
More just incompetent and 10 years too late than corrupt.
FOS Sports ?