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TS News - Ufa/CLT Deal Cleared

TELE-satellit News, 8 October 1996

Ufa/CLT Deal Cleared
  BRUSSELS, Belgium, 96/10/08 (SatND) -- The European Commission has no
objections against the merger of Ufa GmbH, a subsidiary of Germany's media
giant Bertelsmann, and Luxembourg's commercial TV and radio company CLT.
Having been given green light by Brussels, the deal that will create the
largest European media company can go ahead as planned.

  CLT's main shareholder, Audiofina S.A, and Ufa parent company Bertelsmann
AG will each hold a 49 percent stake of the newly formed company Ufa/CLT.

  With its cartel office hat on, the EU commission said it does not expect
Ufa/CLT to gain a predominant position on any of the markets concerned. It
admitted, however, that the newly formed company will in fact improve its
position, mainly owing to synergy effects.

  Actually, there's only one country where both companies have been active
simultaneously, and that's Germany. The EU Commission does not expect
Ufa/CLT to monopolise that market as there is a strong competitor, the
Munich-based KirchGruppe. The combined market share of Ufa and CLT
free-to-air channels in Germany (RTL, RTL 2, Super RTL, Vox) amounts to 26
percent, while receiving 38 percent of advertising revenues. The merger will
neither have an impact on pay-TV, as CLT is not involved here, nor on
digital TV, because Ufa and CLT recently cancelled their digital Club RTL
package.

  By: Peter Klanowski
  Source: SatND

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