Newsletter-21

121 COMPETITION LAW AFM/MARS decision in light of the prominent decisions in the EU and USA The reason behind the Competition Authority initiating sector re- search in the cinema services sector is the merger of AFM and MARS, as well as the new market structure following this merger. Therefore, the Competition Authority is concentrating on the changes in the mar- ket following the merger of AFM and MARS, and the effects of the vertical integration of the MARS Group. The Report primarily mentions the Paramount Pictures decision of the US Supreme Court, from 1948. The Competition Authority notes that in this decision, the court states that the five largest film studios, acting in a vertically integrated way, shall be prohibited from acting in such a vertically integrated manner. It then states that the Commission’s decisions in the EU do not resemble the Supreme Court decisions, and a number of Competition Authority decisions are noted to reflect Turkish practice. However, the main examination was made around the AFM/MARS decision in the fourth section of the report in question. The Competition Authority determined that with regard to the undertakings given for the problematic five micro markets in which one of the movie theatres is closed, some of the remaining were transferred, again, after the decision. Within this framework, in the Report, the opinions of cinema managers and distributors concerned the inability to protect the competitive structure as a result of the deci- sion. The decision stated that although some undertakings entered the movie screening market, there is no other undertaking in the market that comes close to the size and the growth rate of the MARS group. For the screening market, after the decision, the market share of the MARS group is determined as 34-36% with regard to the ticket num- bers, and 42-45% with regard to ticket revenues. However the closest competitor of the MARS group has a market share of 7-8% for both of these areas; therefore, the undertaking has a significant market share. In the Report, the market structure was reviewed for İstanbul, Ankara, İzmir and Antalya, and it was determined that the market share of the MARS group did not increase more than what was expected in the AFM/MARS decision.