MSFT - European Commission to hold hearing on Activision/Microsoft next Tuesday - report

The European antitrust regulator is set to hold a hearing next week as part of its in-depth review of Microsoft's ( NASDAQ: MSFT ) planned $69 billion acquisition of Activision ( NASDAQ: ATVI ).

The oral hearing is scheduled for Tuesday, according to a PaRR report. An oral hearing is a optional part of Phase II EC review and typically is held in Brussels and involves the companies, third parties and other EC officials.

Microsoft ( MSFT ) received a formal statement of objections from the European Commission in regard to the transaction late last month. The EC has an April 11 deadline to finish its review of the Activision ( ATVI ) deal. The EC in November said it was opening an in-depth review into the transaction, citing fears that the deal may "significantly reduce competition."

The EC hearing comes after the UK's antitrust regulator last Wednesday said the proposed megadeal would cause a "substantial lessening of competition" i n gaming consoles and cloud gaming services in the UK.  The Competition and Markets Authority found both Microsoft's ( MSFT ) Xbox and Sony's PlayStation ( SONY ) compete closely with one another and that Activision's Call of Duty video game series is important to both consoles. The parties have until March 1 to comment on the provisional findings.

The Microsoft ( MSFT )-Activision ( ATVI ) deal has come under intense scrutiny across the globe, including in the U.S. by the Federal Trade Commission, which sued to block the deal in early December.

For further details see: