RTL offers concessions in push for speedy approval of Sky Deutschland deal

By Foo Yun Chee

BRUSSELS, March 30 (Reuters) - European broadcaster RTL AUDK.LU has offered to address competition concerns over its Sky Deutschland acquisition, EU antitrust regulators said on Monday, seeking early approval for the deal.

The deal would help RTL, which is majority-owned by German media group Bertelsmann BTGGg.F, to compete with U.S. heavyweights Netflix NFLX.O, Disney DIS.N and Amazon Prime AMZN.O in Germany. Sources told Reuters last week that RTL was poised to offer concessions.

Acquiring Sky Deutschland would give RTL local access to Sky's premium sports rights, including Bundesliga and Premier League soccer as well as Formula 1 motor racing. It would also provide access to Sky's WOW streaming service.

"We can confirm that the parties have submitted commitments. The provisional deadline for the Commission to take a decision is now April 22," a European Commission spokesperson said in an email without disclosing details of the remedies.

Reuters was unable to reach an RTL spokesperson for immediate comment.

A possible concession to address competition concerns could be an offer by RTL to outsource advertising sales to third parties, people with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters last week.

RTL has 52 TV channels, six streaming services and 40 radio stations in Germany, France, Hungary and Luxembourg.