Merger below the thresholds: The Court of Justice of the European Union rules that Regulation 139/2004 does not preclude a merger that does not have a Community dimension, that is below the thresholds for ex ante control under national law and that has not been referred to the Commission pursuant to Article 22 of that regulation, from being subject to ex post control, or even from being challenged if the degree of dominance attained substantially impedes competition (Towercast)

*This article is an automatic translation of the original article, provided here for your convenience. Read the original article. On March 16, 2023, the Court of Justice of the European Union issued its long-awaited judgment in case C-449/21 (Towercast)which follows the request for a preliminary ruling made by the Paris Court of Appeal on July 21, 2021. In a judgment - important and subtly argued - delivered on July 1, 2021 concerning an appeal by towerCast, a DTT broadcasting operator, the only survivor of the continuous takeover of its competitors since 2006 by the market leader, TDF, which also held a legal monopoly until 2004, the Paris Court of Appeal decided to stay the proceedings in the case of the takeover of Itas by TDF and to refer to the Court of Justice of the European Union