27.10.2004   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 264/2

1.

On 4 October 2004, the Commission received a notification of a proposed concentration pursuant to Article 4 of Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 (1) by which the undertakings Columbia Pictures Corporation Limited (‘Sony Pictures’, United Kingdom), belonging to the Sony group (‘Sony’, Japan), The Walt Disney Company Limited (‘Disney’, USA), and ON Demand Group (‘ODG’, United Kingdom) acquire within the meaning of Article 3(1)(b) of the Council Regulation joint control of the undertaking MovieCo, (‘MovieCo’, United Kingdom) by way of purchase of shares in a newly created company constituting a joint venture.

2.

The business activities of the undertakings concerned are:

3.

On preliminary examination, the Commission finds that the notified transaction could fall within the scope of Regulation (EC) No 139/2004. However, the final decision on this point is reserved. Pursuant to the Commission Notice on a simplified procedure for treatment of certain concentrations under Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 (2) it should be noted that this case is a candidate for treatment under the procedure set out in the Notice.

4.

The Commission invites interested third parties to submit their possible observations on the proposed operation to the Commission.

Observations must reach the Commission not later than 10 days following the date of this publication. Observations can be sent to the Commission by fax (fax No +32/2/2964301 or 2967244) or by post, under reference number COMP/M.3542 — Sony Pictures/Walt Disney/ODG/MovieCo to the following address: