ECJ overturns UPC-Ziggo merger amid sports competition concern

The European Court of Justice has overturned approval granted by the European Commission in 2014 for a merger of Dutch pay-television operators UPC and Ziggo, citing competition in the sports media market as its key concern.

The EC’s approval of the deal had been challenged by fellow pay-television operator KPN, which put forward three main arguments, including the deal’s impact on the sports market in the Netherlands.

The EC had originally ordered Ziggo’s owner, mass media company Liberty Global, to sell off its premium movie channels under the Film1 banner, but not the Ziggo Sports platform.

The ECJ said in its ruling: “Even though the Commission puts forward numerous arguments in the context of the first plea in the present action in order to show that Liberty Global did not, owing to the presence of Fox Sports, have the ability to engage in a foreclosure strategy and would not have the incentive to do so, the fact remains that those arguments are not set out in the contested decision.”

In a statement reported by the Broadband TV News website, Liberty Global said: “We note the EU General Court’s decision, which has no impact on the day-to-day operations of Vodafone Ziggo. The Court’s ruling does not question the substance of the Commission’s decision to approve the UPC and Ziggo merger, but rather annuls it on procedural grounds. We will discuss practical steps with the European Commission over the coming weeks and we are confident of obtaining clearance in due course.”

KPN has welcomed the verdict, with a spokesman adding: “At the time we thought it was wrong that the original ruling on the merger did not take sport content into account.”

The ECJ ruling does not affect the subsequent merger between Ziggo and Vodafone, which the EC approved in August 2016. The RTLZ.nl website said the EC has two months to appeal against the ECJ’s verdict.

Ziggo’s last major sports rights deal came in June. The pay-television broadcaster retained rights to national team qualifiers marketed by European football’s governing body Uefa, while it also secured rights to the new Nations League competition.

Rights to third-party European Qualifier matches for the 2014-15 to 2017-18 window are currently held by Ziggo Sport and the broadcaster secured the same package for the qualifying games for Uefa Euro 2020 and the 2022 Fifa World Cup.

Games will be broadcast by the Ziggo Sport and Ziggo Sport Totaal channels, which will also offer highlights of the Netherlands national team matches.