Another setback for RTL's European strategy.

The Dutch antitrust authority ACM has prohibited the merger of the Dutch subsidiary with the media company Talpa owned by TV producer Jon de Mol, RTL announced on Monday. The strong position of the two companies in the television advertising market was a thorn in the side of the authority. They have a combined share of around 75 percent. Two weeks ago, RTL Nederland and Talpa had signaled concessions in order to save the deal announced in 2021.

The Bertelsmann subsidiary RTL wants to forge national champions in the European TV business in order to stand up to international streaming competitors such as Netflix. As part of this, the company originally wanted to merge its French channel M6 with rival TF1. However, RTL and TF1's parent company Bouygues pulled the emergency brake last summer because the concessions made to the French anti-trust authorities were not enough.

"We are still convinced that market consolidation is necessary in order to be able to compete with the global technology platforms," said RTL CEO Thomas Rabe. This will come sooner or later.

(Report by Hakan Ersen, edited by Ralf Banser. If you have any questions, please contact our editorial team at berlin.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for politics and the economy) or frankfurt.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for companies and markets).)