The German Competition Authority clears a merger in the online travel agency industry (T-Online / Bild.de)

"Internet Joint Ventures and the Quest for Exclusive Content: The T-Online Cases"*Introduction EC and national competition law issues arising from the marketing of ‘premium’ content, such as travel services and sports news, via the Internet were at the centre of several recent competition cases in Germany. The German Bundeskartellamt (BKartA) on 7 March 2002 cleared, after obtaining amendments to the notified agreements, a jointventure by T-Online, Deutsche Telekom‘s internet subsidiary, and Bild.de, the online edition of Germany’s largest tabloid newspaper [1]. This decision is the latest in a series of investigations into T-Online‘s Internet businesses by both the BKartA and the European Commission. The BKartA‘s decision follows two separate investigations by the Merger Task Force