Menu
Media

New Zealand Competition Regulator Denies Vodafone, Sky Merger

Vodafone’s "hopes of consolidating" the telecom industry in New Zealand have been "dashed" after the country's competition regulator on Thursday "blocked its proposed merger in the country with Sky Network Television," according to Nic Fildes of the FINANCIAL TIMES. The Commerce Commission ruled against the NZ$2.4B ($1.7B) deal, saying that a merger of the broadcasting and telecom businesses "would have created a monopoly in pay-television sports." The decision "represents a setback to Vodafone’s efforts to tidy up its global set of operations and push deeper into the market for so-called quad-play services, where the company sells telecoms and pay-TV as a package to consumers." The "surprise decision" by New Zealand’s competition regulator "followed objections from Spark," a telecom that said a merger between Vodafone and Sky "would hurt competition given the combined company’s power to bid for lucrative TV sports rights" (FT, 2/23). In Auckland, Matthew Theunissen reported the Commerce Commission said that the merger would "likely have gone ahead had it not been for Sky's premium sport content." Commission Chair Mark Berry said, "Given the merged entity's ability to leverage its premium live sports content, we cannot rule out the real chance that demand for its offers would attract a large number of non-Vodafone customers." Berry added that to clear the merger, the Commission "would need to have been satisfied that it was unlikely to substantially lessen competition in any of the relevant markets" (NEW ZEALAND HERALD, 2/23). REUTERS' Charlotte Greenfield reported Sky CEO John Fellet said that the company was "considering an appeal in the High Court and would wait until receiving the regulator's full written decision due out in about two weeks' time before making a decision." Fellet: "We've got to keep all the options on the table" (REUTERS, 2/23).

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 18, 2024

Sports Business Awards nominees unveiled; NWSL's historic opening weekend and takeaways from CFP deal

ESPN’s Jay Bilas, BTN’s Meghan McKeown, and a deep dive into AppleTV+’s The Dynasty

On this week’s Sports Media Podcast from the New York Post and Sports Business Journal, ESPN’s Jay Bilas talks all things NCAA. Big Ten Network’s Meghan McKeown shares her insight into the Caitlin Clark craze. The Boston Globe’s Chad Finn chats all things Bean Town. And SBJ’s Xavier Hunter drops in to share his findings on how the NWSL is making a social media push.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

Shareable URL copied to clipboard!

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Global/Issues/2017/02/24/Media/Vodafone-Sky-merger-rejected.aspx

Sorry, something went wrong with the copy but here is the link for you.

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Global/Issues/2017/02/24/Media/Vodafone-Sky-merger-rejected.aspx

CLOSE