Media power and ownership concentration

This chapter revisits the issue of media power and ownership regulation in the light of economically influential internet platforms. Altogether, sector-specific ownership regulation continues to lose ground in favour of the sole application of competition law, which is more generally regarded as the preferred instrument against market-dominant internet platforms. This is evidenced by far-reaching changes to the main mechanisms of market-power control afforded by competition law, most prominently to the control of abusive practices. This goes hand in hand with attempts to strengthen the competitiveness of national media companies vis-à-vis international internet platforms, e.g. by exempting press companies from competition-law scrutiny or promoting public-value content. Overall, questions of how to integrate internet platforms into a diversity-securing regulatory system are being debated but thus far remain unsolved.