The Commerce Commission has received an application from Sky Network Television Limited seeking clearance to acquire the television broadcasting business of Prime Television New Zealand Limited (Prime).

Sky is a publicly-listed company on both the New Zealand and Australian stock exchanges and has been broadcasting pay television services in New Zealand since 1990. Sky broadcasts on both a digital satellite format and an analogue UHF format, and currently has approximately 600,000 subscribers.

Prime is owned by the Australian-based Prime Television Limited, which also operates 12 television broadcasting stations in Australia. Prime has been broadcasting free-to-air television services in New Zealand since 1998.

In considering the application, the Commission's role is to determine whether the acquisition has the effect of substantially lessening competition in a market.

A public version of the application will shortly be available under Public Registers.