Zee-Sony India Merger Receives Conditional Approval From Competition Authorities

variety.com:

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The Competition Commission of India on Tuesday granted conditional approval to the proposed merger of Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd and Sony Pictures Networks India.

Combination C-2022/04/923Commission approves amalgamation of Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (ZEE) and Bangla Entertainment Private Limited (BEPL) with Culver Max Entertainment Private Limited (CME), with certain modifications.#CCIMergerControl #mergers #mergerupdate pic.twitter.com/5JFG6RgiHl The regulatory approval comes with conditions and is not the finishing line for the deal which was first made public in September last year.

At the end of August, the CCI gave a preliminary assessment of the $10 billion deal, saying that it could potentially hurt competition by having “unparalleled bargaining power.” The CCI was reported to have been particularly concerned by channel pricing power and the merged entity’s dominance in the Hindi-language advertising market.

Since then, it has been reported that in order to get the deal across the line the companies have offered a range of voluntary concessions.