OFT grounds (96 pages, PDF) for clearing the merger of Global Radio and GCap Media subject to divestments in the Midlands.

In London, the merger brings under common ownership the Heart, Galaxy, LBC, Capital Radio and Classic FM stations. In the OFT's view, the merger combines essentially complementary businesses in terms of the demographics that they offer to advertisers, and:

30 ... there is compelling evidence that Global will have the profit incentive to bundle together former GCap and Global stations at a lower package price than the equivalent mix-and-match bundled price pre-merger, when the stations were not commonly-owned.

31. Global will reposition its now commonly-owned stations to attract listeners ... and increase the demographic focus of the respective station audiences. While directly benefiting end-consumers — who are at no risk of price effects — advertisers also benefit: ...

On the basis of these “rivalry-enhancing efficiencies”, the OFT decided that there would be no substantial lessening of competition in London.

Comment: Is this the longest ever OFT merger decision? Yet at first glance I cannot see much analysis of the potential lessening of competition in developing programming and attracting audiences — the OFT seems to have relied on a belief that any such lessening of competition would be detected by considering competition for advertisers. Franck

High Court judgment (about 95 pages) rejecting a claim of infringement of Article 81(1) made by bookmakers and their broadcasting suppliers BAGS and SIS against the Racing UK group of racecourses. The issue was the exclusive rights to broadcast races in bookmakers' shops granted by some racecourses to the Turf TV joint venture. SIS was until then the only such broadcaster.

The judge's verdict was:

502. In my judgment, the decision by the 18 operators of the 30 courses to back their joint venture and not undermine it by selling their rights to BAGS or SIS is not an infringement of Article 81(1).

The main findings of fact behind this conclusion appear to be that:

• BAGS, SIS and bookmakers had not shown a "real concrete possibility" of there being a third entrant (besides SIS and Turf TV). Therefore there was nothing that could be foreclosed from the market as a result of exclusivity.
• The exclusivity prevented SIS from increasing its share of the market, but that was not a restriction on competition in the circumstances (where BAGS/SIS was a monopoly until Turf TV started).
• In any event, exclusivity was a necessary ancillary restriction for the Turf TV joint venture, because SIS had already been signing up racecourses on an exclusive basis: “it was commercially necessary to enter that market as a successful competitor to take exclusive rights to as many courses as were available and to prevent SIS acquiring such rights on an exclusive basis” (paragraph 475).

CAT judgment (about 7 pages) refusing permission to appeal against its March 2008 rejection of Rapture's claim against Ofcom (and Sky) on EPG pricing and regulation. The Tribunal found that the points raised by Rapture were, or should have been, raised in the course of the CAT proceedings, and cannot therefore support an appeal now. The matter is still entirely considered under the Communications Act 2003 rather than competition law.

Publication of the judgment, dated 19 June 2008, was probably delayed by the CAT website problems and apparent slow communication of CAT judgments to BAILII.

OFT decision (41 pages, PDF) to refer to the Competition Commission (under merger control legislation) the proposed Internet video-on-demand joint venture Kangaroo.

The putative joint venture partners are BBC Worldwide (the commercial arm of the BBC), ITV and Channel 4. The BBC's non-commercial iPlayer and the commercial broadcasters catch-up services would be unaffected.

The OFT's decision is partly based on a view that BBC Worldwide would be launching a commercial video-on-demand service using BBC archived content even if the joint venture is blocked:

106. Given the quality, volume and potential value of the BBC archive, it does not seem plausible to the OFT that the BBC's archive content would not be commercialised in the near-term, particularly given the recent and ongoing activity by ITV and Channel 4 in this regard – a view [...] held by industry participants, and was not disputed by BBCW before the OFT.

The Competition Commission has an inquiry page. Its first deadline for submissions is Monday 21 July 2008.

OFT notice that it has referred the proposed Internet video-on-demand joint venture between the BBC's commercial arm BBC Worldwide, ITV and Channel 4 to the Competition Commission for an in-depth investigation into the possibility of a substantial lessening of competition.

The decision will be published once a redacted version has been prepared; the OFT is normally quick at doing this.

The Competition Commission has an inquiry page.

European Commission press notice outlining the obligations relating to third-party access to conditional access technology that have been agreed with News International as a condition for clearing its acquisition of Premiere, the main pay TV provider in Germany.

Competition Commission notice (70 pages, PDF) of the proposed arrangements (redacted) to establish new regulatory arrangements for the newly-formed UK terrestrial TV and radio broadcasting monopoly.

The company (called Arqiva) was formed by Macquarie's acquisition of National Grid Wireless, conditionally cleared by the Competition Commission in March 2008.

The regulator (called "the Adjudicator" in the document) will be appointed by Ofcom and empowered to:

• determine disputes (including whether some prices are “reasonably derived from the costs of provision allowing an appropriate mark up for the recovery of common costs and including an appropriate return”);
• give guidance (including specifying elements of price controls); and
• receive regulatory accounts from Arqiva.

Short consultation period: Representations by Monday 14 July 2008.