Merged media company could impose paywall, cut news quality, ComCom lawyer argues

By Sophie Boot
Oct. 24 (BusinessDesk) - A merged media entity of the country's biggest newspaper publishers could cut coverage quality or introduce a paywall without losing much advertising revenue, disadvantaging the public, the Commerce Commission's lawyer told the Wellington High Court.
In the sixth day of Stuff and NZME's appeal against the regulator's decision earlier this year, James Farmer QC continued setting out the commission's case for rejecting the merger. The media companies argued interdependency between reader numbers and a...
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