ACM asked for permission for RTL Nederland takeover by DPG

The Authority for Consumers & Markets (ACM) was formally asked for permission this week for the planned takeover of RTL Nederland by DPG Media. The deal worth 1.1 billion euros is subject to approval by the competition authority.

DPG media announced in December that they wanted to take over RTL Netherlands and that the companies had agreed on the deal. The ACM then announced that it would look carefully at this takeover and that a statutory merger process would be completed, during which market research would be conducted.

DPG Media came to an agreement with RTL Nederland that the RTL name will be kept. DPG Media intends to add RTL Nederland and RTL Nieuws under the leadership of Sven Sauvé as a new division of DPG Media.

There are 600 people under employment at DPG Media. The company owns brands like NU.nl, AD, Qmusic and Joe. RTL Nederland has 800 employees. The company is responsible for channels like RTL4, RTL5, RTL7, RTL8, RTLZ, and the streaming platform Videoland.

RTL Nederland was already in the shop window. The ACM rejected an earlier plan by media company Talpa to merge with RTL Netherlands because a merger would give them too much power in the television and advertising market.