Belgian media house DPG has been given the green light to take over RTL Nederland by the Dutch competition authority ACM, albeit with strict conditions to retain editorial independence and free access.

The Financieele Dagblad reported in May that the ACM was poised to approve the €1.1 billion takeover, after saying last year it could give DPG too dominant a position.

DPG Media owns the Volkskrant, Trouw, the AD and the Parool newspapers, as well as the news website Nu.nl. It also operates radio stations Qmusic and Joe. RTL Nederland’s brands include RTL 4, RTL 5, RTL 7, RTL 8 and RTL Z, along with the streaming platform Videoland.

The ACM said on Friday that the conditions it has imposed will ensure news consumers continue to have access to sufficient independent news sources, given the news landscape is undergoing major changes.

“News consumers must continue to be able to choose from different, independent news sources,” said ACM chairman Martijn Snoep. “With these conditions, we have safeguarded that.”

In particular, news websites RTL and Nu.nl will continue to be freely accessible and will operate as separate news brands with independent newsrooms, the ACM said.

Editorial independence, the ACM said, will be guaranteed via a network of foundations each controlling part of the group.

In 2023, the ACM blocked a merger between RTL Nederland and Talpa, arguing that the combined company would have too much influence over the commercial media sector. But the agency said its research indicated there was no risk to the online, print and television advertising markets in the DPG deal.

The Netherlands’ other major publishing house, Mediahuis, is also Belgian-owned. It controls the NRC and Telegraaf newspapers as well as a number of regional titles and Metro.