Competition watchdog will not oppose Seven buying into SVOD service Presto

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has today confirmed it will not oppose a move by the Seven Network to buy into streaming on demand service Presto.

The announcement comes three months after Seven West Media announced it was signing on to Foxtel’s streaming service agreeing to put its TV programming into the service from this year.

“The ACCC determined that, following the proposed acquisition, the Presto Entertainment service would continue to face strong competition from other SVOD services such as Stan (a joint venture between Nine and Fairfax) and Netflix, which has announced it will launch in Australia this month,” said ACCC Chairman Rod Sims.In its investigation the ACCC looked at whether the combined involvement of major pay-TV provider Foxtel and the first-placed free-to-air network Seven would give the Presto service an advantage over its SVOD competitors.

Richard Freudenstein, Foxtel CEO, said: “We have big plans for Presto Entertainment to be a leading player in the SVOD space and are excited we can accelerate plans for Presto TV with our partners Seven West Media now that the ACCC has given their consent to our joint venture.”