The Government is committed to saving the Antena 3-LaSexta merger

The Council of Ministers plans to review the conditions imposed by the National Competition Commission for the merger of Antena 3 and La Sexta, conditions that both channels consider unaffordable.

The Council of Ministers this Friday could debate, at the proposal of the head of the Economy, Luis de Guindos, lowering the conditions imposed by the National Competition Commission for the merger by absorption between Antena 3 and LaSexta.

The Government has until the end of this month of August to decide on the conditions of the merger, after the Ministry of Economy submitted the decision on the conditions imposed to the Council of Ministers on July 31.

If a series of measures aimed at softening the conditions that Competition is trying to prevent are finally approved before the end of the month, the operation could finally be closed next September.

After the commission's ruling, Antena 3 asked the Ministry of Economy to review this resolution taking into account "reasons of general interest related to the guarantee of adequate maintenance of the objectives of sectoral regulation and the promotion of research and technological development."

This measure could be taken under article 60.1 of Law 15/2007 on the Defense of Competition, which stipulates “raising to the Council of Ministers, for reasons of general interest, the decision on concentration operations when, in the second phase, the Council of the National Competition Commission has decided to subordinate its authorization to the fulfillment of certain commitments or conditions.” In its article 10.4, it is established that "for the purposes of that provided for in article 60 of the same, it may assess economic concentrations based on criteria of general interest other than the defense of competition, in particular, among others, the guarantee of adequate maintenance of the objectives of sectoral regulation and the promotion of research and technological development."

At this time, the Ministry of Economy would be finalizing a document to present to the Council of Ministers in which it would propose softening or even eliminating some of the conditions imposed by Competition.

The AUC opposes softening the measures

The Association of Communication Users (AUC) has asked the Government this week not to vary the conditions that the National Competition Commission has imposed for the merger of Antena 3 and La Sexta and, in addition, to also extend them to Telecinco and Cuatro.

In the opinion of the AUC “any reduction in the established conditions would allow excessive control of the audiovisual market by the merged parties.”

The Association understands that "it would be detrimental to viewers, who already see the variety, pluralism and even the quality of the content threatened with these merger operations."

But the AUC's request does not end there, since it asks the Government that these measures also apply to the conditions that once marked the merger between Cuatro and Telecinco.