ACCC gives Fairfax-Nine merger green light

The Australian Competition and the Consumer Commission said it was Nine and Fairfax before giving the merger to the green light.

The decision removes one of the final obstacles to the creation of a media giant's own Nine's free-to-air TV network, newspapers including the Age, The Australian Financial Review and Sydney Morning Herald Stan, and a 54.5 per cent stake in the Macquarie Media radio network.

"ACCC flesh chair Rod Sims said," We're coming out of the competition and selling it.

The decision was made by the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance, who said the merger would reduce the coverage of public interest.

Opposition leader Bill Shorten and Prime Minister Paul Keating were also critical.

Fairfax directors unanimously recommended that they vote in favor of the deal on November 19, in the absence of a superior proposal.

The deal faces a final short approval on November 27.

Fairfax head Greg Hywood expects the merger to be officially completed by December 10, while Nine says December 7.

Shares in both companies rose 10 minutes of trade on Thursday, before falling back.

Nine was up 0.3 per cent to $ 1.675 and Fairfax up 0.4 per cent to 62.75 cents at 1305 AEDT.

Mr Sims acknowledged the merger, which was announced in July, but said international rivals such as the Guardian and Buzzfeed were providing additional competition.

"Only Nine-Fairfax, News / Sky, Seven West Media and the ABC / SBS will employ a large number of journalists focused on news creation and dissemination," Mr Sims said.

"With the growth in online news, however, many other players, albeit smaller, now provide some degree of competitive constraint."

The ACCC also found that Nine's Television Operations and Fairfax's main media badets were not likely to be highly competitive with each other.

It said the deal would likely elevate Nine it alongside News Corp. and ahead of the ABC in terms of online coverage.

Nine Entertainment and Fairfax had a high rate of growth of 26.8 per cent to $ 156.7 million.

Fairfax swung to $ 63.8 million, hit by write-offs at its regional and New Zealand operations as well as restructuring and redundancy costs.

Mr Sims said that he understood the issues that would be important to him.

"The ACCC is recognizing that it is likely to change its position in the future," he said.

"However, we would like to conclude that if such changes occur, they would not be, to a significant extent, caused by the merger lowering the level of competition."

Originally published as ACCC gives Fairfax-Nine merger green light