Press release

The Media Ownership Authority has decided not to intervene against A-pressen’s acquisition of the local newspaper Hadeland.

A-pressen acquired over the last months of 1998 shares in Hadeland, and had before the end of 1998 gained control over the newspaper. In March 1999 A-pressen owned 93 percent of the shares in Hadeland.

Hadeland is a local newspaper in an area which covers the municipalities of Gran, Lunner and Jevnaker in Oppland county. The newspaper has five editions weekly, and a circulation of  7 600 copies.

The other two newspapers which contain news from the same area, are both owned by A‑pressen. Those are Oppland Arbeiderblad, which is published in Gjøvik, and Ringerikes Blad, which is published in Hønefoss and has a broad coverage in Jevnaker.

A-pressen is the largest owner of local newspapers in Norway and has a strong position in the eastern part of Norway. A-pressen also owns a dominant newspaper advertising co-operation in the counties of Hedmark and Oppland.

The Media Ownership Authority is critical to the acquisition because A-pressen holds such a strong ownership position in the region, and because A-pressen thus becomes the only newspaper owner in the local market. The newspaper Hadeland will join A-pressen’s regional advertising co‑operation. If A-pressen has to divest the acquired ownership interest in Hadeland, Hadeland may lose its incomes from the advertising co-operation. There exist to‑day no other advertising co-operation which Hadeland is likely to join. The loss of income by being excluded from such co-operation may lead to economic problems for Hadeland which may cause that the newspaper will disappear from the market. The Authority has therefore concluded that the legal requirements to intervene are not fulfilled, because the risk of the newspaper going out of business after an intervention is significant.

The Media Ownership Act entered into force 1 January 1999. The Act shall promote freedom of expression, genuine opportunities to express one’s opinion and a comprehensive range of media. The Media Ownership Authority has this year, in addition to new acquisitions, also examined acquisitions which were made from the date the Act was adopted in 1997 until the Authority was established 1. January 1999.

The Authority’s decision (in Norwegian) is located on the Internet under http://www.eierskapstilsynet.no. Copies will also be forwarded on request.

Press contact: Director General Sigve Gramstad, tel +47 22 47 68 80 and e-mail sg@eierskapstilsynet.no.