The European Commission has approved under the EU Merger Regulation the $85.4 billion (€78.5bn) acquisition of Time Warner by AT&T. Time Warner provides global media entertainment services, including the production and distribution of television and video programming, home entertainment, feature film and videogame. AT&T is active in global telecommunications and digital entertainment services, but in the European Economic Area (EEA) it only provides telecommunications services to business customers.

The Commission concluded that the proposed acquisition would not raise competition concerns, because there are no overlaps between the parties’ activities in the EEA. The transaction was examined under the simplified merger review procedure.

Other posts by Colin Mann:

1. Analysis: SVoDs drive $220bn content spend
2. A TikToking clock heading towards regeneration – or not?
3. European pay-radio: Getting ready

Categories: Articles, Broadband, Business, M&A, Policy, Regulation, Telco