A regulatory decision on the planned merger of Sky Network Television and Vodafone New Zealand has been pushed back, due to the “significant volume” of material the country’s Commerce Commission needs to work through.

“The new decision date is Thursday 23 February 2017, reflecting the significant volume of material that the Commerce Commission needs to review in light of submissions from multiple third parties, and the Commission’s heavy workload in December,” a statement published by the broadcaster said.

The watchdog recently called for more input into its review, with regard to how the deal could impact competition in New Zealand’s telecoms and pay-TV markets. This included the ability of the merged company to use content to put a squeeze on rival broadband and service providers through competitively-priced bundles.

While there would initially be a benefit to consumers, “rival broadband and mobile providers could lose or fail to achieve scale and become less competitively effective”, the regulator said.

It was previously reported that Sky held talks with network operator 2degrees about a content deal designed to appease these very concerns. The country’s number two player, Spark, did not say if it was in talks, but did indicate it may be interested, having previously been critical of the merger.

The Sky Network Television/Vodafone New Zealand deal was announced earlier this year.