The Austrian Cartel Office wants to take a closer look at the involvement of the media holding company of former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi in the German TV group ProSiebenSat.1 (P7S1).

The Federal Competition Authority (BWB) announced on Tuesday that it had submitted an application to the Cartel Court for a so-called in-depth investigation. The investigation to date has shown that, based on current knowledge, it cannot be ruled out that there could be "adverse effects on the status quo of P7S1's media activities in Austria". This applies above all to the scope of Austria-specific program content. "Media diversity is a valuable asset in a democracy and any potential restriction is taken very seriously by BWB," explained interim BWB Director General Natalie Harsdorf-Borsch.

MFE-Holding and ProSiebenSat.1 declined to comment. At the beginning of November, major shareholder MFE (formerly Mediaset) expanded its position of power at ProSieben: Although the Italians reduced their direct voting rights slightly to 22.72 percent, they secured a further four percent in the German competitor, bringing their direct shareholding up to 29.01 percent via financial instruments. At the Annual General Meeting, MFE could even put 29.9 percent on the scales and thus possibly have a majority in the event of a weak attendance. If the threshold of 30 percent of voting rights is exceeded, a takeover bid would be due.

According to BWB, ProSiebenSat.1 is one of two providers in the private TV sector that essentially produce a wide range of content such as news, entertainment, infotainment formats, films and series specifically for Austrian audiences. As a market participant, the company from Unterföhring near Munich is therefore of significant importance for media diversity in Austria. The competent media supervisory authority KommAustria had submitted a statement "which also critically assesses the project due to potential negative effects on media diversity and suggests the need for further examination". In addition, a statement had been received from a company which negatively assessed the consequences of the notified project on media diversity.

The Bavarian Regulatory Authority for New Media (BLM) had stated in December that MFE was obliged to notify the responsible state media authorities in good time before exceeding the threshold of 25 percent. "An increase in the shareholding to up to 29.9 percent of the share capital and voting rights would also raise the question of whether this would constitute a violation of the principle of state neutrality."

(Report by Klaus Lauer, edited by Hans Seidenstücker; if you have any queries, please contact our editorial team at berlin.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for politics and the economy) or frankfurt.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for companies and markets)).