§ Lord Graham of Edmontonasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether the Cannon Group is proposing to sell its film library and the Pathé newsreel library to the Weintraub Entertainment Group of Los Angeles; if so, whether they consider the proposed sale to be compatible with assurances given by the Cannon Group at the time it acquired the Thorn/EMI film library, which led to the acquisition not being referred to the Office of Fair Trading; and what action they propose to take to prevent the proposed sale; and
Whether they expect that the Cannon Group will honour its commitments, made at the time of its acquisition of Thorn/EMI, to refurbish the Elstree film studio and stimulate British film production.
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Trade and Industry (Lord Lucas of Chilworth)The decision of my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry not to refer the acquisition of Screen Entertainment by the Cannon Group to the Monopolies and Mergers Commission was not conditional on undertakings from Cannon. Any undertakings given in these circumstances would not have been enforceable. Decisions on investment priorities are ones which are generally best left to the commercial judgment of companies.
The proposed sale of Cannon's film library and archive (formerly the Thorn/EMI film library) may qualify for investigation by the MMC under the merger provisions of the Fair Trading Act and is currently under preliminary consideration at the Office of Fair Trading. If it qualifies for investigation, the Director General of Fair Trading has a duty to advise the Secretary of State on the question of reference to the Monopolies and Mergers Commission.