* Decision ensures Ten gets financial lifeline
* Regulator notes rising competition from online streaming
* Calls for deregulation of "redundant" competition laws (Recasts with ACCC interview)
By Byron Kaye
SYDNEY, Oct 22 (Reuters) - Australia's antitrust regulator cleared News Corp NWSA.O cable firm Foxtel's bid to buy 15 percent of free-to-air broadcaster Ten Network Holdings Ltd TEN.AX , and backed industry calls for an overhaul of "redundant" media ownership laws.
The decision is a reprieve for Ten as it battles competition from online services like Netflix Inc NFLX.O and prepares to report what analysts expect will be an annual net loss of A$30 million ($21.69 million) on Monday, its third consecutive yearly loss.
It also represents a shift in the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's (ACCC) thinking, after the regulator initially warned the deal could give the Rupert Murdoch-controlled Foxtel and Ten an unfair advantage in the all-important market for live sports.
ACCC Chairman Rod Sims told Reuters that while the deal would align the interests of the two firms, it would not create a "substantial lessening of competition" because they were still separate entities.
Even if it cut out other free-to-air broadcasters from bidding for sports, "we could still step in and take action", he added.
The buy-in, worth just A$77 million after a 90 percent slump in Ten's shares in the past five years, gives a lifeline to a station trailing larger rivals Seven West Media Ltd SWM.AX and Nine Entertainment Co Holdings Ltd NEC.AX .
Ten said the ruling would help it cut debt and provide financial flexibility. Its shares were flat, in line with the broader market.
Seven and Nine shares fell 8 percent and 6 percent respectively.
CHANGING LANDSCAPE
Sims said the Foxtel-Ten tie-up would face competition from online content providers, a force which is pressuring lawmakers to relax what he called "technologically redundant" rules stopping traditional media companies from merging.
Referring to one 30-year-old law banning television stations from broadcasting to more than 75 percent of any audience, Sims said, "if you got rid of it, it could probably be pro-competitive and could well increase diversity in the market".
His remarks add weight to media bosses' calls for deregulation as they scramble to find ways to survive the haemorrhaging of readers and audiences to online platforms. The government has said it is reviewing the laws.
Governments have been reluctant to act due to Murdoch's opposition to any reforms which did not also end so-called anti-siphoning laws, by which certain marquee sports must be shown on free-to-air networks.
"That's one very influential person's opinion," Sims said, suggesting ownership and anti-siphoning laws should be separated. ($1 = 1.3833 Australian dollars)