The
European Commission (EU's merger review arm) has signed off on the Comcast/NBCU
deal.
"After
examining the operation, the Commission concluded that the transaction would
not significantly impede effective competition in the European Economic Area
(EEA) or any substantial part of it," the commission said in a statement.
The
EC took less than six weeks to decide that the deal posed no anticompetitive
threats, which was helped by the fact that Comcast does not have any European
cable holdings.
The
EC conceded that the combination of NBCU and Comcast's stake in MGM results in
horizontal overlaps in various markets in the EEA (European Economic Area), but
said that the overlaps were limited. It also drew a distinction between the
deal and its vetting in the States.
"[C]ontrary
to the US," the EC said, "in the EEA, the transaction does not lead
to any vertical relationship between Comcast's cable distribution platform and
NBC Universal's programming assets."
