Fairfax-Nine bid gets nod

ACCC’s green light for proposed media merger

THE competition watchdog will allow Fairfax Media’s $4 billion merger with Nine Entertainment to go ahead after deciding the move would not diminish competition in Australian news and media.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission yesterday said it had examined more than 1000 submissions, as well as documents demanded from Nine and Fairfax, before giving the merger the green light.

The decision removes one of the final obstacles to the creation of a media giant owning Nine’s free-to-air TV network, newspapers including the Age, The Australian Financial Review and Sydney Morning Herald, a majority stake in real estate site Domain, streaming service Stan, and a 54.5 per cent stake in the Macquarie Media radio network.

“We concluded that the proposed merger was not likely to substantially lessen competition,” ACCC chair Rod Sims (right) said.

Mr Sims acknowledged the merger, which was announced in July, would reduce the number of companies intensely focusing on domestic news from five to four, but said rivals such as The Guardian and Buzzfeed were providing additional competition.

“Only Nine-Fairfax, News/ Sky, Seven West Media and the ABC/SBS will employ a large number of journalists focused on news creation and dissemination,” Mr Sims said.

“With the growth in online news, however, many other players, albeit smaller, now provide some degree of competitive constraint.”

The ACCC also found while Nine’s television operations and Fairfax’s main media assets generally do not compete closely with each other, their online news coverage could overlap after investment in this area from both companies.

It said the deal would probably put Nine alongside News Corp and ahead of the ABC in terms of online coverage.

Mr Sims said he understood concerns that a merger would strip resources from Fairfax culture and journalism.

“The ACCC recognises there will likely be changes to the way Fairfax and Nine operate in future, either due to the changing media landscape more generally or due to the merger itself,” he said. “However, we reached the conclusion that if such changes do occur, they would not be, to a significant extent, caused by the merger lowering the level of competition.”

Fairfax directors have unanimously recommended that shareholders vote in favour of the deal in the absence of a superior proposal.