Mexico. The restrictions that the Comisión Federal de Competencia, CFC, had put in place for 50% of Iusacell to pass into the hands of Televisa were accepted by the latter and now the business can be closed.
The objections that the Mexican government had to this business, are due to the fact that Iusacell belongs to the Salinas Group, owner of the Azteca channel, competition of Televisa and between the two dominate the television market in that country, which could lead to a monopoly in the industry.
But the authorization granted to the business by the CFC includes a series of clauses and restrictions that must be complied with and that if they do not do so, they could have several sanctions, including the dissolution of the company and a fine of up to 10% of the annual income of the participating companies, that is, the Televisa and Salinas groups.
The first condition has to do with the tender for the third television channel. If this is not done in the next 24 months, a mechanism for the dissolution of the partnership between the two companies will be activated.
Nor will they be able to discriminate in the sale of advertising on Televisa and TV Azteca to any telecommunications company. They are obliged to sell advertising space to any Iusacell competition, under market conditions, that is, at the average price for each channel and time slot.
They are also prohibited from selling the advertising spaces of the two channels tied to Iusacell's services, as well as having the obligation to sell their free-to-air television content in a non-discriminatory manner and without packaging them with other content to closed television.
Finally, the CFC obliges Total Play, a company that offers packaged telephony, restricted television and internet services, to cease to be part of the partnership between the two groups to be integrated exclusively into Grupo Salinas, preventing Televisa, owner of Cablevisión, from having an equity stake in a competitor.
