In the latest unlucky hurdle for ITV to vault, the company now has to hope that the commission doesn’t decide that Brightsolid, a subsidiary of newspaper group DC Thomson, would own too large a share of the online genealogy market. The company also owns Findmypast.com, 1911census.com and plans to launch an over-50s dating site post-acquisition.

The OFT says its own investigation found that ITV and DC Thomson compete against Ancestry.co.uk, the current market leader, and it’s concerned that reducing the market leaders from three to two would damage services…

“The OFT does not believe that the current competition in this market or the potential for future entry is sufficiently strong to prevent the merged firm from reducing the quality or range of its services, or possibly raising prices,” it says.

Robert adds: This, of course, is not the first time ITV has fallen foul of the OFT. Its referral to the Competition Commission last year of the Project Kangaroo VOD JV with C4 and BBCWW ended in the commission prohibiting the venture.