European Commission: Joint Venture between German Kirch and Italian Mediaset Cleared

IRIS 1999-9:1/11

Annemique de Kroon

Institute for Information Law (IViR), University of Amsterdam

The European Commission has decided to authorise the creation of Eureka , a joint venture between Kirch and Mediaset . The main activities of Eureka will be in the areas of TV broadcasting, the sale of TV advertising, TV productions and the international distribution of TV rights.

The Kirch group ( Kirch Media GmbH & Co. KgaA and Kirch Vermögensverwaltungs-GmbH & Co .) is one of the two major commercial media groups in Germany, and owns a wide range of broadcasting rights to films, TV programmes and sports events.

Mediaset ( Mediaset S.p.A. and Medusa S.p.A. ) is an Italian commercial TV company which owns three channels and controls Publitalia , the biggest advertising sales company. Both Kirch and Mediaset are controlled by Fininvest S.p.A . They will continue their activities in their respective home markets.

Their TV and TV related activities which are performed on an international basis will, however, be carried out by Eureka.

Both groups are essentially active in different geographic markets and there is no significant overlap between them. Kirch

Mediaset has only limited activities in the distribution of TV rights in Italy. is not active in Germany. Moreover, the activities related to the assets transferred to Eureka are essentially complementary. Therefore, Eureka will not create or strengthen a dominant position, nor will it significantly strengthen its parents' position on their markets.