Brazil’s antitrust regulator Administrative Council for Economic Defense (CADE) has decided to reopen the case involving Disney’s US$71bn acquisition of 20th Century Fox, a deal the watchdog had greenlighted in February.
"The deal approved in February was contingent on the sale of the Fox Sports channel. As the sale was not finalized, the case will be re-examined," said Alexandre Barreto de Souza, Chairman of the Administrative Council for Economic Defense of Brazil.
The regulator said it requested the sale of Fox Sports to maintain the same level of competition in the Brazilian market after the deal, with three different sports options: SporTV, ESPN and the service provided by a new company with the Fox assets.
The companies "tried" to comply with the request, but had not succeeded, the regulator said. As a result, CADE decided to only accept the deal if Disney gave up either ESPN / Brazil or Fox Sports to avoid monopoly in the sports world.
CADE's firm stance protects competition at first. But the group Globo, especially Sportv, is the biggest favored.
Related News
