Mergers: Commission clears 21st Century Fox’s proposed acquisition of Sky under EU merger rules

On 7 April 2017, the European Commission approved under the EU Merger Regulation the proposed acquisition of Sky by Twenty-First Century Fox, a US-based diversified global media company. The Commission concluded the transaction would raise no competition concerns in Europe.

The proposed transaction would combine Sky plc (Sky), the leading pay-TV operator in Austria, Germany, Ireland, Italy and the UK and Twenty-First Century Fox, Inc (Fox), one of the six major Hollywood film studios (20th Century Fox), as well as a TV channel operator (Fox, National Geographic).