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Telefonica's Digital+ buy cleared with strict conditions
2015-04-24 08:31:00| Telecompaper Headlines
(Telecompaper) Spain's communications and antitrust regulator CNMC has approved Telefonica's takeover of Digital+ almost a year after the operator agreed to purchase Prisa's 56 percent stake in the pay-TV platform for EUR 750 million. The full takeover of Digital+ brings with it a large customer base in the form of the 1.6 million subscribers to pay-TV channel Canal+ and gives Telefonica control of 80 percent of Spain's pay-TV market, a situation that prompted the regulator to attach a series of conditions to the deal. Above all, Telefonica has been required to make available 100 percent of the content of its so-called premium channels currently broadcast on both Canal+ and Movistar TV to its rivals in the form of wholesale packages. Each competitor will be able to broadcast 50 percent of the resulting content, including exclusive live sports events (Champions League and La Liga football, Formula 1, Moto GP and Olympic Games) and major US studio productions. Crucially, rival companies such as Vodafone and Orange, are to be allowed to choose the content of the wholesale packages made available by Telefonica to ensure the replicability of the offer and prevent what the CNMC defined as "margin squeeze situations".
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Category:Telecommunications