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On board entrepreneur's latest venture

EU regulators clear BSkyB's $9 bln German, Italian pay-TV deals

Reuters - UK Focus

BRUSSELS, Sept 11 (Reuters) - European Union antitrust regulators approved on Thursday British broadcaster BSkyB's planned $9 billion takeover of Rupert Murdoch's pay-TV companies in Germany and Italy, which will make it the biggest pay-TV provider in Europe.

The deal is the latest example of traditional entertainment companies reinforcing their operations to compete against more agile Internet rivals.

The merged company will have operations in Britain, Ireland (Other OTC: IRLD - news) , Germany, Austria and Italy. Sky Italia is Italy's biggest pay-TV operator while Sky Deutschland (Other OTC: SKDTY - news) has seen strong growth.

"The Commission found that the transaction would not lead to any material overlaps in the parties' activities, as they are mainly active in different national markets," the EU competition authority said in a statement. (Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; editing by Adrian Croft)