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Home Page > Archivio delle notizie > Notizia Commission clears a joint venture between Kirch (Germany) and Mediaset (Italy) in the TV sectorThe European Commission has authorised the Eureka joint venture between the Kirch and Mediaset groups of companies. Eureka will be mainly active in TV broadcasting, sale of TV advertising, TV productions and distribution of TV rights internationally. Since both groups are essentially active in different geographic markets, there is no significant overlap between them. Also, the activities related to the assets transferred to Eureka are essentially complementary. The creation of Eureka will not, therefore, create or strengthen a dominant position in the European Economic Area (EEA) Agreement. Under the agreement, Kirch Media GmbH & Co. KGaA and Kirch Vermögensverwaltungs-GmbH & Co. KG together with Mediaset S.p.A. and Medusa S.p.A., both controlled by Fininvest S.p.A., create a new joint venture company named Eureka.The Kirch group is one of the two major commercial media groups in Germany owning a wide range of broadcasting rights to films, TV programmes and sports events. Its activities include pay-TV operations in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. It has recently acquired 95% of Premiere, the leading pay-TV operator in Germany, which it is to merge with its own digital TV service DF1. The Kirch group operates free-TV channels in Germany (SAT 1, DSF) and has stakes in such channels in Spain (25% of Telecinco) and Italy (1,3% in Mediaset). Mediaset is active in commercial TV in Italy where it owns and operates 3 channels (Italia 1, Retequattro and Canale 5) and controls Publitalia, the Italian market leader in advertising sales. Mediaset also holds a 25% stake in Telecinco, while its parent Fininvest S.p.A. holds 10% in Telepiù, the leading pay-TV operator in Italy. Medusa produces, finances and trades in films, music and soundtracks; it also builds and manages movie theatres. The Eureka joint venture will control three principal subsidiary companies: - European Television Network (ETN), a newly created company with the strategic objective of developing a pan-European broadcasting network. Kirch will transfer to ETN a participation in its German TV channel SAT 1 and both Kirch and Mediaset will transfer to ETN a stake in Telecinco; - Mediaset will transfer to Eureka a 100 % of Publieuros Limited and Publieurope International, newly created international TV advertising companies; and - Kirch will transfer to Eureka Beta Distribution, which produces, distributes and acquires international TV programming and of international theatrical motion pictures. The TV and TV related markets affected by the proposed concentration are essentially still national markets or geographically limited to specific language regions. Kirch has a strong position on the German markets for TV broadcasting and TV rights, whilst Mediaset has a strong position in Italian TV broadcasting. Kirch and Mediaset will continue their TV and TV related activities as far as these are limited to their respective home markets. By contrast, where these activities are performed on an international basis, e.g. transnational sale of TV advertising time or TV productions conceived for several national markets, these activities should be carried out by Eureka. At the national level, Kirch has only limited activities in the distribution of TV rights in Italy. Mediaset has no activities in Germany. In these circumstances, the Commission cannot assume that Eureka will significantly strengthen its parents' position on their markets. At the EEA level, Eureka will itself be faced with other important players in the TV sector which already operate TV networks throughout Europe or which are able to play in the future an important role on a European level.
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