On Wednesday 22 March the Commission received a lengthy submission from NZME and Fairfax providing further analysis and expert evidence in support of its merger authorisation application. Public versions of this submission and an expert report have now been published on the Commission’s website.

The Commission informed the applicants on Friday 24 March that if it is to properly consider the information provided then it must extend the current agreed decision date of 11 April. The applicants have now agreed to a new decision date of 2 May 2017. This decision date is dependent on the applicants providing no further substantive submissions on this merger application.