On May 20th, 2022, Chamber I of the Federal Civil and Commercial National Court of Appeals unanimously decided to dismiss The Walt Disney Company's (Disney) request for the issuance of an injunction aimed to suspend the effects of different behavioural obligations advised by CNDC in regard with the firm's merger with Twenty-First Century Fox, Inc.
The sentence confirms the full validity of all the behavioural conditions imposed by the Secretariat of Domestic Trade of the Ministry of Productive Development by Resolution SCI No. 11/2022, dated November 17th, 2021, based on a CNDC opinion issued in the framework of the merger review procedure.
Specifically, Disney aimed to obtain the suspension of the obligation to guarantee, for five years, that the cost of the premium sports signals it markets does not exceed the income cable operators obtain from the sale of said content; the obligation not to broadcast, also for five years, those sporting events that were assigned to the MediaPro group under the structural remedy imposed by SCI Resolution No. 11/2022; and, finally, the obligation to appoint a third party as Monitoring Agent, in charge of auditing and supervising the degree of compliance with the obligations imposed by SCI Resolution No. 11/2022.
In its ruling, the Court pointed out that Disney failed to prove the likelihood of success on the merits—one of the essential requirements for issuing an injunction—that would justify suspending the effects of any of the conditions outlined. Consequently, they remain fully operational for the period stipulated in SCI Resolution No. 11/2022.
The CNDC will continue monitoring compliance with the behavioural obligations established upon Disney in the commercialization of signals in Argentina. Consider that, in addition to those analysed and ratified by the Court in its ruling, Resolution SCI No. 11/2022 likewise imposed conditions on marketing and bundling practices aimed at minimizing the portfolio effects arising from the merger even afterwards the divestment has been completed.
The remedies imposed by the CNDC benefit more than 8 million households subscribed to the pay television service in Argentina.