In a recent ruling, the European Court of Justice has established that just because the EU has introduced prior control over whether large mergers constitute an abuse of dominant position, small mergers may also be in violation of competition law. The ruling concludes years of legal disagreement in several member states, including Denmark.
The dispute arose between Towercast, a prominent player in the French market, and its competitor Télédiffusion de France (TDF). The reason for the dispute was TDF’s merger with the smaller competitor, Itas S.A.S. (Itas).
According to Towercast, the merger between TDF and Itas was a violation of competition rules and potentially harmful to competition. This was because, according to Towercast, TDF’s acquisition of Itas could create a disproportionately dominant market position.
Towercast argued that such dominance would harm competition and reduce opportunities for other players in the market. Towercast’s view was that the merger would strengthen TDF’s already significant market share and thus worsen the conditions of competition.
Towercast therefore filed a complaint with the French competition authority, Autorité de la Concurrence, which therefore investigated whether the merger could in principle constitute an abuse of TDF’s dominant position in the market for digital TV transmission.
Read the entire article by attorney Hans Sønderby Christensen published on Tuesday, February 27, 2024, on Jyllands-Posten’s website here or download it as a PDF here.