Amazon’s $8.5 Billion MGM Deal Wins Clearance by EU, Which Says Studio’s Content ‘Cannot Be Considered as Must-Have’

variety.com:

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorThe European Union’s antitrust regulator “unconditionally” approved Amazon’s proposed $8.5 billion acquisition of MGM, in part because “MGM’s content cannot be considered as must-have.” The deal is still pending approval by the U.S.

Federal Trade Commission.The European Commission on Tuesday announced the approval of the deal, announced in May 2021. The commission concluded that “the transaction would raise no competition concerns in the European Economic Area (‘EEA’).”Based on its market investigation, the European Commission said, it found that the transaction “would not significantly reduce competition” in the markets for production and supply of audiovisual content, the wholesale supply of TV channels, the retail supply of audiovisual services, the production and licensing of distribution rights to third-party distributors of films for theatrical release or the provision of marketplace services.

In the last hurdle to clear before the deal can close, Amazon gave the FTC a mid-March deadline to issue a decision on approval of the transaction, the Wall Street Journal reported.

If the FTC does not file a legal challenge before the deadline, Amazon can move forward with the deal, per the report.MGM, founded in 1924, would bring Amazon a catalog of more than 4,000 movies and 17,000 TV shows, including James Bond, Pink Panther and Rocky movie franchises.