ACCC clears Seven West’s acquisition of West Australian media outlets

Kerry Stokes’ Seven West Media is set to gain control of two WA mastheads, following ACCC approval of the deal.

The competition watchdog has delivered its approval to a proposed shake-up of the Western Australian media landscape after two false starts, with Kerry Stokes’ Seven West Media to gain control of the state’s two mainstream metropolitan mastheads.

The ACCC has cleared Seven West’s (SWM) acquisition of The Sunday Times newspaper and the perthnow.com.au website from News Limited.

News Corp Australia agreed in May to sell The Sunday Times and its PerthNow website to Seven West Media for a price believed to be in the range of $12-$15 million, as first reported in The Australian.

In a statement today, the regulator said the deal was unlikely to substantially lessen competition.

Seven West already runs the state’s highest circulating newspaper in The West Australian.

It met with some pushback from the ACCC, with two delays to its decision timeline before today’s decision in the affirmative, with the regulator assessing whether the media landscape had changed enough for it to wave through a deal that will see the two largest metropolitan newspapers in WA merge.

In its statement of issues published last month the ACCC noted there were no serious competition issues.

It did note the deal “may be likely to substantially lessen competition in relation to the supply of news and information to readers in Western Australia, by reducing choice and removing the competitive constraint between SWM and News.”

It added it “may be likely to substantially lessen competition in relation to the supply of Western Australian advertising opportunities in print newspapers.”

But it noted it was “unlikely to raise competition concerns in relation to the acquisition of content from third party providers (e.g. newswire services).

“The ACCC’s preliminary view is that the proposed acquisition is unlikely to raise competition concerns in relation to online advertising, given the range of other sites advertisers can utilise,” it added.

“The ACCC received a significant amount of feedback about diversity and quality of news from consumers in Western Australia. We also listened carefully to concerns raised by businesses who advertise in West Australian newspapers,” ACCC Chairman Rod Sims said in a statement.

“Advertising expenditure in print newspapers in Perth is in steep decline,” Mr Sims said.

“Most of the advertisers we spoke to after publishing the Statement of Issues are spending less on print newspapers than a few years ago and are finding alternative ways of reaching target audiences, including via digital media.”

The regulator also likely factored in the view that publication of The Sunday Times one day a week was unsustainable in the long-term, with the inclusion into a daily publication set to boost its profitability.