Press Release: Mergers: European Commission refers planned online joint venture between ProSiebenSat.1 and RTL to German and Austrian competition authorities

The European Commission has referred the assessment of the joint venture between the German private broadcasters ProSiebenSat.1 and RTL to the competition authorities of Austria and Germany, at their request. The purpose of the joint venture is to create an internet platform on which consumers can watch repetitions of television content during seven days after the programme has been broadcast on free-to-air TV. After a preliminary investigation, the Commission found that the proposed transaction would affect competition in national online TV and advertising markets in Austria and Germany. These markets will now be examined by the Austrian and German competition authorities under national law.