Liberty Global reportedly ready to sacrifice Film 1 to seal Ziggo deal

Liberty Global has reportedly offered to sell its Film 1 premium channel and open its network to OTT providers to win approval for its acquisition of Ziggo from EU regulators.

According to Reuters, citing an unnamed source, Liberty Global has offered to sell Film 1 in order to overcome concerns that the Ziggo acquisition would bring the latter’s HBO pay TV service and the Liberty Global movie channel under the same roof, leaving only one significant premium movie provider in the Netherlands.

The news agency reported that Liberty Global will also commit not to block OTT services from its network either commercially or technically.

The EC opened an in-depth investigation into the acquisition in May over competition concerns, throwing into a doubt a deal Liberty Global previously believed was on schedule to be completed in the second half of this year. The Commission is set to rule on the agreement by October 17.

Liberty Global currently holds a 28.5% stake in Ziggo, whose board recommended Liberty’s offer of €35.74 a share for the remainder last month, in a deal that values Ziggo at about €10 billion.

Note: DTVE Daily  carried the incorrect headline “Liberty Global reportedly ready to sacrifice Sport 1 to seal Ziggo deal”. This has been corrected in the above story.