RTL-Talpa merger

Together with Radicand Economics and Loyens & Loeff

e-Conomics and Radicand Economics were approached by Loyens & Loeff for supporting their client DPG Media in objecting to the RTL-Talpa merger.

We analysed the impact of the RTL-Talpa merger on competition in the Dutch radio and television markets. Our conclusion was that it would lead to a concentrated Dutch television market, with strong upward effects on television advertising prices. This hurts advertising companies and (ultimately) consumers.

It may also hurt the adjacent radio market in two ways. First, because companies have limited advertising budgets, higher prices for television advertisements may crowd out the budgets for radio advertising. Second, the merged company could provide conditional discounts on television advertising space when bundled with radio advertisements. This way, competing stand-alone radio stations (such as Qmusic) would be less able to sell their advertising space.

e-Conomics provided a report and some explanatory memo’s. These served as input for the ACM and were an integral part of DPG Media’s formal response to the investigation by the Dutch competition authority. Ultimately, the ACM did not allow the merger.

Impact

Our expert witness reports contributed to the ACM’s economic impact assessment of the merger. The ACM concluded that the merger would harm the competitive process in the television and advertising markets.