{"id":10059,"date":"2022-07-04T15:52:39","date_gmt":"2022-07-04T15:52:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/legalblog.ie\/media-mergers\/"},"modified":"2022-11-19T22:09:38","modified_gmt":"2022-11-19T22:09:38","slug":"media-mergers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/media-mergers\/","title":{"rendered":"Media Mergers"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_63 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title \" >Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/media-mergers\/#Notification\" title=\"Notification\">Notification<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/media-mergers\/#Procedure\" title=\"Procedure\">Procedure<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/media-mergers\/#BAI_Panel\" title=\"BAI &amp; Panel\">BAI &amp; Panel<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/media-mergers\/#Determination\" title=\"Determination\">Determination<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/media-mergers\/#Post-Determination\" title=\"Post-Determination\">Post-Determination<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Notification\"><\/span>Notification<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>The Minister for Communication, Energy and Natural Resources is to be notified in writing of a proposal to put a media merger or acquisition into effect.\u00a0 Notifying parties must furnish full information in relation to the media merger, including, in particular, matters that might impair the plurality of the media in the State.\u00a0 The Commission must notify the Minister of its determination on the media merger notification.<\/p>\n<p>A media merger is void if it is put into effect before the Minister for Communications makes a determination. It is void if it is not put into effect within 12 months of the determination being made.<\/p>\n<p>The Minister for Communications must inform the businesses concerned within 30\u00a0 working days of notification of his determination to clear the proposed merger or acquisition, to clear it with conditions or to proceed to request the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland to carry out an investigation.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Procedure\"><\/span>Procedure<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>The Minister may enter discussions with the undertakings with a view to gaining commitments that protect the plurality of the media.\u00a0 The reasons for the determination must be published.<\/p>\n<p>A full media merger investigation must be undertaken where the Minister for Communications etc. has made a determination it is required.\u00a0 The Broadcasting Authority of Ireland is to take account of the factors set out in the legislation.<\/p>\n<p>A copy of the request must be placed on its website and the BAI is to invite submissions It must send a copy to the relevant Oireachtas Committee, inviting submissions within a specified time.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"BAI_Panel\"><\/span>BAI &amp; Panel<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>The Authority may enter into discussions with the undertakings with a view to identifying measures that will remediate the effects of the media merger on the plurality of the media in the State.<\/p>\n<p>The Broadcasting Authority has 80 days to report back to the Minister, including a recommendation as to whether the media merger should be put into effect with or without conditions or should not be put into effect.\u00a0 It must provide its draft report and recommendations to the businesses involved for comment.<\/p>\n<p>The Minister for Communications may establish an advisory panel to provide an opinion to the Broadcasting Authority on the application of the relevant criteria to the media merger in question once there has been a full media merger investigation.\u00a0 This consists of between three and five persons appointed by the Minister.\u00a0 The panel is to produce a report on the relevant criteria within 20 working days and provide clarification of its opinion in writing if requested by the Minister for Communications.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Determination\"><\/span>Determination<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>The Minister for Communications may make a determination after a full investigation.\u00a0 He determines whether or not the media merger is to be put into effect or may be put into effect, subject to any conditions specified, within 20 working days of receiving the report and recommendation.<\/p>\n<p>There is a provision for review of conditions in determinations within 40 days of the date of notification if the market conditions applicable to the merger have substantially changed since the date of the Broadcast Authority report to the Minister.<\/p>\n<p>The Minister may, within 40 working days, with the consent of the undertakings involved, amend or revoke conditions if the parties have made a request to review the determination.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Post-Determination\"><\/span>Post-Determination<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>The terms of the determination are enforceable.\u00a0 A High Court injunction may be granted in order to enforce compliance on the initiative of the Minister.<\/p>\n<p>There are penalties for noncompliance. A person guilty of an offence on summary conviction is subject to a class A fine or imprisonment up to six months or both. On conviction of an indictment, a person is subject to imprisonment up to two years or a \u20ac10,000 fine or both.<\/p>\n<p>There are provisions requiring leave to be granted for judicial review of any determination by the Minister.\u00a0 There are shorter than usual time limits. Leave may not be granted unless there are substantial grounds for review.<\/p>\n<!--themify_builder_content-->\n<div id=\"themify_builder_content-10059\" data-postid=\"10059\" class=\"themify_builder_content themify_builder_content-10059 themify_builder tf_clear\">\n    <\/div>\n<!--\/themify_builder_content-->\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Notification The Minister for Communication, Energy and Natural Resources is to be notified in writing of a proposal to put a media merger or acquisition into effect.\u00a0 Notifying parties must furnish full information in relation to the media merger, including, in particular, matters that might impair the plurality of the media in the State.\u00a0 The [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[157],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10059"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10059"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10059\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20561,"href":"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10059\/revisions\/20561"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10059"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10059"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10059"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}