Portugal’s competition authority, the AdC, has rejected a proposed deal for telecommunications company Portugal Telecom to acquire a 25-per-cent stake in Portuguese pay-television broadcaster Sport TV.
In December 2012, Portugal Telecom agreed a deal to purchase a 25-per-cent stake in Sport TV, with the Zon Multimedia and Sportinveste media companies retaining 25-per-cent and 50-per-cent stakes, respectively.
The proposed transaction has since been under the assessment of the AdC and Portugal’s media regulator, the ERC.
The regulators had raised concerns that the deal included stipulations that would stifle competition between the different shareholders. It was feared by some observers that the deal would further strengthen the dominant position of the Olivedesportos agency, which is controlled by businessman Joaquim Oliveira, who is also a co-owner of Sport TV.
The ERC in January gave Portugal Telecom, as well as Zon Multimedia and Sportinveste, six months to amend “non-competition clauses” in the arrangement. However, the AdC has rejected the remedies proposed by the parties in question stating “they do not meet the conditions that might be considered necessary, appropriate and sufficient to address the concerns.”
The AdC said that the deal would “likely create significant barriers to competition.”