A final decision on whether two of our largest media companies can merge is being described as a line call.

The Commerce Commission will say around 8.30 whether NZME and Fairfax New Zealand can join forces.

The two companies have presented lengthy submissions on the merger since November, when the the commission's draft decision said it was likely to decline the deal.

NBR editor Nevil Gibson told Rachel Smalley at this stage, it could go either way.

"The original decision by the Commerce Commission was merging them together just doesn't make any sense from a public point of view. Their [NZME and Fairfax] argument is that Google, Facebook, these sorts of things, are their main competition."

But Mr Gibson told Rachel Smalley it's difficult to compare the online giants to our media companies.

"They're quite different animals. They don't generate news. They don't generate advertising from news primarily. They're social media, they feed off newspapers."

LISTEN ABOVE AS NEVIL GIBSON SPEAKS WITH RACHEL SMALLEY