ComCo takes a close look at the merger of NZZ and AZ Medien
Die Wettbewerbskommission (Weko) prüft den geplanten Zusammenschluss von AZ Medien und NZZ vertieft. Sie vermutet, dass auf verschiedenen Märkten eine marktbeherrschende Stellung begründet oder verstärken könnte.
It sees indications of this in the readership markets for daily newspapers in the Solothurn and Aargau regions and in the magazine advertising market in the building technology sector, as the Competition Commission announced on Tuesday.
Furthermore, there are indications of the creation or strengthening of collective market dominance in the reader market for daily newspapers in the Basel area and in the reader market for Sunday newspapers. The Competition Commission therefore intends to conduct an in-depth examination of the impact of the planned merger on competition. This examination will take place within the statutory period of four months.
The NZZ Media Group and AZ Medien announced last fall that they would be merging their regional titles and creating a company that would unite 20 paid newspapers in 13 cantons under one roof. The joint venture is to be called CH Media (Werbewoche.ch reported).
AZ Medien and NZZ do not share Weko's assessment
AZ Medien and the NZZ Media Group have taken note of the Competition Commission's (ComCo) decision, but do not share its assessment. They do not see the merger as a problem, but as a necessity. AZ Medien and NZZ Media Group consider the merger to be unproblematic due to the highly competitive market environment and because the market areas of the two companies complement each other, as they jointly announced on Tuesday. On the contrary, they consider the merger to be necessary "in order to survive on the market in the long term".
The two media companies are therefore confident that the Competition Commission will approve the planned joint venture by fall 2018. The completion of the transaction will be delayed until then. (SDA/hae)
