A unit of Sony Group and India’s Zee Entertainment have proposed offering concessions such as pricing discounts to help ease concerns of the country’s antitrust regulator over their merger, which will create a $10-billion TV behemoth, two sources told Reuters.
The concessions are a bid to iron out antitrust worries of the Competition Commission of India (CCI), which in an Aug. 3 notice warned the companies of further scrutiny, saying their “humongous market position” would allow them to enjoy “un-paralleled bargaining power” with 92 channels in India’s massive media and entertainment market.
In particular, the CCI was concerned over how big an impact on competition the merged entity would have in terms of advertising and channel pricing, particularly in the popular Hindi language segment. Legal experts and former CCI officials said such scrutiny was set to delay the deal approval process.
Last week, Sony-Zee submitted “voluntary remedies” to the deal in writing to assuage the watchdog’s concerns, though that did not include structural changes such as the sale of certain channels to reduce the threat of competition, said the two sources, who declined to be named due to confidentiality concerns.
Want more news? Subscribe to CPI’s free daily newsletter for more headlines and updates on antitrust developments around the world.
Featured News
EU Conducts First-Ever Raids on a Company Under Foreign Subsidies Regulation
Apr 23, 2024 by
CPI
FTC Moves to Ban Non-Compete Agreements, Aiming to Boost Labor Mobility
Apr 23, 2024 by
CPI
Federal Judge Nods at $418M Deal in Real Estate Antitrust Suit
Apr 23, 2024 by
CPI
Mexican Watchdog Probes Amazon and Mercado Libre Over Loyalty Bundles
Apr 23, 2024 by
CPI
Competition Commission of India to Probe AI Landscape for Competition
Apr 23, 2024 by
CPI
Antitrust Mix by CPI
Antitrust Chronicle® – Economics of Criminal Antitrust
Apr 19, 2024 by
CPI
Navigating Economic Expert Work in Criminal Antitrust Litigation
Apr 19, 2024 by
CPI
The Increased Importance of Economics in Cartel Cases
Apr 19, 2024 by
CPI
A Law and Economics Analysis of the Antitrust Treatment of Physician Collective Price Agreements
Apr 19, 2024 by
CPI
Information Exchange In Criminal Antitrust Cases: How Economic Testimony Can Tip The Scales
Apr 19, 2024 by
CPI