Brussels partner Matthew Hall was quoted in a Dec. 14 Bloomberg Technology story about the antitrust (merger control) issues arising from 21st Century Fox’s plans to take over Sky Plc, Europe’s top pay-TV company. While the UK may weigh whether the deal will harm plurality — the existence of different views — in the UK’s media, the European Commission is expected to investigate the resulting impact on competition under the EU merger control rules.
“The EU will look at the vertical relationships arising from Fox’s activities upstream as a licensor of broadcasting rights to premium movie content, pay-TV channels and other TV content and BSkyB’s activities as a TV channel producer and retailer of pay-TV services,” Matthew explained.
A frequent writer and speaker on antitrust law topics, Matthew served as vice chair of the American Bar Association Section of Antitrust Law’s Economics Committee in 2015-16, and for 2016-17, he is vice chair of the section’s International Committee. He also is a member of the steering group of the ABA Section of International Law’s International Antitrust Law Committee.