canal+tps merger

will this make things difficult for everyone, i found this posting on there merger.
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The French Finance Ministry Thursday said it has approved the merger of French satellite pay-TV platforms CanalSat and TPS, after the companies agreed to measures aimed at addressing competition concerns.
Plans for a merger were announced December by CanalSat's parent company, Vivendi Universal SA, and the two owners of TPS, Television Francaise 1 SA et M6-Metropole Television SA.
The Finance Ministry's ruling comes after an extensive review of the planned merger by France's competition authorities.
In a statement Thursday, Vivendi said it was "pleased" with the decision. The move would help create a "significant French player" to compete with major foreign media companies, and would give "fresh momentum" to the French film and television sector, it said.
Vivendi said the tie-up should now be carried out by the fourth quarter of this year.
Speaking at a conference in Paris to launch his channel's new autumn schedule, Canal Plus chairman Bertrand Meheut moved to calm fears that the tie-up would lead to job losses and the closure of some channels.
"I am aware there could be some cross-over but it's something we'll have to talk about. I'm not expecting any sudden shock," he said. "The point of this is not to diminish the number of channels," Meheut added, pointing to recent consolidation in Italy and the U.K. which has led rather to a sharp growth in channels."By combining our strengths, we will better be able to respond to our customers' needs and to speed up our growth in a sector which is in the midst of great change."
The Ministry's decision had been expected after TF1 Chairman Patrick Le Lay announced Wednesday that a ruling from the government was imminent.
The tie-up between the pay-television business of Canal Plus and TPS ends an anomaly in France, one of the few countries in Europe with more than one pay-television operator.
Executives had long argued that such a situation left France's leading media companies at a disadvantage to their foreign rivals, as they were often competing with each other and paying more for choice broadcast rights.
Under the tie-up, Vivendi will own 65% of the newly-merged entity, with 9.9% being held by TF1, France's biggest television group by audience share, and 5.1% by its direct competitor M6.
French media and defense group Lagardere SCA, which reached an agreement with Vivendi over the future of Canal Plus in February, will own the remaining 20%.
In its statement Thursday, the French Finance Ministry said the merger comes against a background of "rapid change in audiovisual markets" where, in other European Union countries, the leading pay-television operators have already merged.
The Ministry said CanalSat and TPS have signed up to a total of 59 commitments designed to ensure competition in France's television and film sector. The commitments will remain in force for a maximum of six years.
These include measures limiting the two companies' influence in the market for film and sports broadcasting rights - crucial to both Canal Plus' and TPS' business models. Also included are measures curbing their control of film production in France, a field in which Canal Plus has been very active.
The main TF1 and M6 channels will both be offered free of charge via other pay-TV operators. The new merged operation will also reserve seven of its channels for third-party broadcasters.
Such measures will enable other broadcasters, including new electronic distributors, to compete on an even footing with the newly-merged CanalSat-TPS, the Ministry said.
It said the measures would allow the tie-up to go ahead "without weakening the emergence of new players onto the pay-television broadcast market." They would offset worries that the ownership structure of the new group - which takes in almost all of France's leading media companies - might harm competition, the Ministry said.
Canal Plus, the Vivendi unit which controls CanalSat, said in a statement that the tie-up would facilitate new investment in television programs in France. The measures agreed left intact both the overall business model for pay-television and the "industrial logic" of the merger, it said.
31.08.2006
In the face of mounting competition from cable and telecoms operators, Canal Plus and TPS announced last December that they planned to end their price war and create a single pay-TV platform.
Canal Plus CEO Bertrand Meheut told a news conference that TPS would become part of the Canal Plus group in November.
"Our goal is to develop the pay-TV market and to strengthen our position on that market in the face of competition from new rivals such as telecom operators," he said.
Canal Plus and Vivendi have promised to grant consumers the benefits of competition, the ministry said in a statement.
As part of the deal, commercial channels TF1 and M6, which own TPS, have agreed to allow third-party distributors to carry their channels without further charge to the user.
Meheut also said that existing TPS and Canal Plus subscribers will get the offerings of the newly-formed group "at unchanged price conditions".
TPS and Canal Plus have a combined 9.5 million subscribers.
TF1 and M6 currently run TPS in competition with Canal Plus, which has battled successfully for soccer rights and audiences.
13.10.2006
Canal+ chairman Bertrand Meheut has said he is keen for the TPS premium channel TPS Star to remain a part of the joint offer that will follow the completion of the French pay-TV merger.
Talks are underway with both SES Astra and Eutelsat as to which of the two satellite systems should be used with the possibility that both might be kept on.
The loss of the sole French pay-TV platform would be a major blow to either of the two operators.
Talks with company employees will begin on November 30, and although an employment charter has been signed it is clear there will be some job losses through the duplication of positions.