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Spain’s competition authority Wednesday gave the green light to Telefonica and Telecinco to buy a 44-percent stake in Spanish media giant Prisa’s pay-TV unit Digital+.
The authority, the CNC, said it approved the deals after Telefonica and Telecinco agreed to “renounce their veto rights on strategic decisions such as the business plan or the annual budget of Digital+.”
The two groups will each take a 22 percent stake in Digital+.
Telecinco, which is owned by the Mediaset group of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, also received CNC approval last month to acquire Prisa’s free-to-air channel Cuatro.
Both Telecinco deals were announced in December, 2009.
Telefonica bought 21 percent of Digital+ in November 2009 but increased its stake to 22 percent two months later in order to be at the same level as Telecinco.
Prisa owns Spain’s leading daily El Pais and other newspapers as well as interests in television, radio and digital platforms in Spain, Portugal and Latin America.
It has been seeking fresh capital since early this year to refinance its debt of nearly 5.0 billion euros (6.8 billion dollars).