It’s not all signed, sealed and delivered yet, but the way looks clear for UK High Street video game retailer Game to acquire one of its competitors,Gamestation. The Competition Commission yesterday gave provisional approval to the dealafter concluding that it wouldn’t significantly lessen the competition in the market. Game and Gamestation are the largest UK video game retailers, and the deal, worthy around $150million, was announced in May. But the Office of Fair Trading asked the Competition Commission to investigate and determine the impact on other retailers. However, it proved to be an even 2-2 vote among the Commission members, until the chairperson, Diane Coyle, cast her vote in favor of the clearance. That split decision means that the Commission isasking for views from all interested parties before the end of the year. “This is a finely balanced verdict but our provisional conclusion is that we do not believe this acquisition willgive the merged company the opportunity significantly to raise prices or reduce service for new or pre-owned products, or to cut trade-in prices paid to customers,” said Coyle."…ifthe merged company was to raise prices, for example, we think it is likely that customers could move a significant amount of their business to alternative retailers such as independents, high-streetretailers, supermarkets and internet retailers."
Tag Archive: Diane Coyle
Game Looks Set To Eat Gamestation
BBC To Launch On-Demand Media Services
The BBC Trust has given the green light to the networks’ iPlayer system, which will make some BBC television programing available over the Internet. The system will enable a range of on-demand television and audio services and potentially signal a major change in the UK television industry.
The new iPlayer system went through a trail period this January in which 10,500 individuals and organizations participated in a “public value test” of the service. The BBC is a public broadcaster and a major force in television and radio broadcasting in the UK; the public value test was in part to assess whether the networks’ plan to offer the content for free would suppress competition in the nascent digital media market. In response to competition concerns, the BBC has scaled back a few aspects of the proposed iPlayer service, but will nonetheless roll it out later this year.
