EU conditionally approves Scripps takeover by Discovery

The EU antitrust regulators approved Discovery Communications $14.6 billion takeover for US-based Scripps Network Interactive. The European Commission, however, had some concerns regarding how this transaction might affect the Polish market. According to it the planned concentration could lead to an increase in Discovery's bargaining power against TV distributors “in connection with the acquisition of certain channels, which are particularly important for the basic pay television packages they propose.” The Commission worried that as a result of the transaction, Discovery would have the opportunity and the incentive to license the use of her entire portfolio of TV channels. This, in turn, would allow it to increase the applicable license fees, with a loss for Polish consumers and competition on the Polish market To address the concern, Discovery committed to making news channels TVN24 and TVN24 BIŚ available to TV distributors in Poland at a “reasonable fee” for seven years. The Commission also rejected a request from Poland to analyze the merger by the Polish antitrust watchdog UOKiK.