EU Clears RTL-Sky DACH Merger, Citing Pressure From Global Streamers
The European Commission has provided unconditional clearance for RTL Deutschland's planned acquisition of pay-TV operator Sky DACH. After reviewing the deal's impact on content acquisition, channel supply, retail services, and advertising, the Commission concluded it would not raise competition concerns in the European Economic Area. The decision cited that the companies are not close competitors in some areas and noted increasing competitive pressure from global streaming platforms.
Key Takeaways
- The Commission's review found RTL and Sky DACH are not close competitors in content acquisition because they focus on different areas.
- Regulators explicitly noted the "increasing competitive pressure from global streaming platforms" in the audiovisual market.
- On advertising, the Commission found the merger would only slightly increase the combined entity's position in linear TV advertising.
- RTL offered commitments to address potential advertising concerns, but regulators deemed them unnecessary and cleared the deal unconditionally.
Why It Matters
This unconditional approval signals that European regulators are defining the competitive landscape more broadly, formally recognizing global SVOD services as direct competitors to national pay-TV and broadcast players. For legacy media operators in the DACH region and across the EEA, this sets a precedent for consolidation as a viable strategy to achieve scale against larger, pan-national streamers. The decision effectively lowers the regulatory barrier for incumbents to merge. Watch for whether this reasoning is cited in other traditional media M&A reviews in Europe.
Read full article at brusselstimes.com
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