Print forms part of the considerations the Commerce Commission has mentioned as it outlines the key issues involved in making its assessment of the proposed merger of Fairfax’s New ZealandNZ division and APN’s NZME business. In its Statement of Preliminary Issues document, the commission says questions it will consider include whether the link-up could lead to a domination of the online news space. The commission sees another salient issue as whether the merger will affect physical printing assets and access to them by independent publishers.
The Commission will consider whether access to printing services will be impacted by the merger
Other points of concern include the introduction of paywamms for on line content and the extent to which advertisers have a preference for specific media for specific needs, and the extent to which they would switch among them. This could refer to the extent to which an advertiser would utilise Google or Facebook services as opposed to stuff.co.nz or the Herald web site – including whether it would have an impact on their printing operations. The two media companies say they can’t compete for online advertising against giants like Google and Facebook without combining their resources. The Commission states: “We will assess the extent to which websites such as TVNZ.co.nz and newshub.co.nz compete with the merging parties for readers, and the extent to which international media companies are able to offer comparable content to New Zealand based parties. Factors we will consider include the importance of New Zealand specific news content to readers and the extent to which competitors can offer local and regional content. “Both NZME and Fairfax operate physical printing assets and the Commission understands that these are utilised by competitors. The Commission will consider whether access to printing services will be impacted by the merger and whether independent publishers will be able to continue to access these on competitive terms.†Fairfax’s print media network includes nine daily and three weekly newspapers, 61 community publications, 10 magazine titles and six websites. NZME owns eight daily and two weekly newspapers, 24 community publications, six magazine titles, 10 radio stations and 38 websites. The Commission has invited interested parties to provide comments on the likely competitive effects of the proposed merger before July 1.
