📋 Tender Overview
The Federal Civil and Commercial Court of Appeals rejected in its entirety the claim made by Disney in the context of the merger between The Walt Disney Company and Twenty-First Century Fox INC. The firm wanted the Chamber to nullify certain behavioral remedies that were recommended by the CNDCOn August 23 2022 Chamber I of the Federal Civil and Commercial National Court of Appeals ruled to reject the appeal filed by Disney against certain obligations of conduct imposed by the then Ministry of Internal Trade based on a recommendation made by the CNDC. The decision was adopted within the framework of the case THE WALT DISNEY COMPANY v NATIONAL STATE MINISTRY OF PRODUCTIVE DEVELOPMENT NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR THE DEFENSE OF COMPETITION s APEL RESOL COMISIN NAC DEFENSA DE LA COMPET Case 493122CA1.The sentence confirms the full validity of all the behavioral conditions imposed by the then Secretary of Domestic Trade of the former Ministry of Productive Development by Resolution SCI No. 112022 dated November 17 2021 at the request of a CNDC ruling issued within the framework of the aforementioned economic concentration operation. It should be remembered that the firm had already unsuccessfully tried to obtain the issuance of a precautionary measure to suspend the effects of the same remedies.Specifically Disney was trying to get the Chamber to annul the behavioral conditions referring to the obligation to guarantee for five years that the cost of the premium sports signals it sells does not exceed the income of the cable operators from the sale of said contents the obligation not to broadcast also for a period of 5 years those sporting events that were assigned to the MediaPro group in compliance with the structural condition imposed by SCI Resolution No. 112022 and finally the obligation to appoint a third party as Monitoring Agent in charge of auditing and supervising the degree of compliance with the commitments imposed by SCI Resolution No. 112022.Regarding the condition imposed on Disney by the obligation to guarantee for five years that the cost of the premium sports signals it sells does not exceed the income of the cable operators from the sale of said content the Chamber pointed out that Disney did not prove that the measure will cause a specific and measurable grievance or harm as alleged.Regarding the obligation not to retransmit also for a period of 5 years those sporting events that were transferred to the MediaPro group the Chamber pointed out that it was a logical and complementary measure with the structural remedy that was also imposed in the framework of the concentration since admitting an eventual reacquisition of the sporting events that were ordered to be transferred directly contradicts one of the primary purposes of the structural measure which was to allow the new entrant to the market to consolidate and make its permanence viable.Regarding the obligation to appoint a third party as a Monitoring Agent to control compliance with the conditioning the Court indicated that Disney did not demonstrate that the actions of this agent hindered or hindered its commercial activity in any way nor were there indications to reach such a conclusion. Previously it also noted that Law No. 27442 grants sufficient powers to the enforcement authority to adopt solutions of the kind that best favor market access and allow competition among which is the designation of a figure as that of the monitoring agent.The CNDC will continue to carry out an exhaustive monitoring of compliance with the behavioral commitments established on Disney in the commercialization of signals in Argentina. In this sense it should be remembered that in addition to those analyzed and ratified by Chamber I in its ruling commitments that establish requirements on marketing and bundling conditions that minimize the portfolio effects that the operation could generate even with after the divestment has been finalized and for a term of five years.The structural and behavioral commitments imposed by the CNDC benefit more than 8 million households that are subscribed to the pay television service in Argentina.
