Supplier power is a neglected element of merger assessment. Joe Perkins and Shiva Shekhar illustrate how a supplier with brand power can effectively offset the impact of a downstream merger to protect its pre-merger profits and, as a consequence, protect consumers.

In some types of competition case, the standard presumption has become that fixed costs are of little or no relevance for price setting. In other types of case, fixed costs are presumed to be critical. Lau Nilausen explores these potential inconsistencies and explains that pricing incentives depend on industry and firm-specific factors that practitioners will need to assess for each case individually.

Essentially, a connected TV is a larger, more specialised smartphone. Ciara Kalmus explores whether the market for connected TV operating systems might consolidate – as the market for smartphone operating systems did – and, if so, what issues that might raise for competition authorities, media regulators, and public services broadcasters.