Sky Italia innocent of soccer market abuse
May 10, 2013
From Branislav Pekic in Rome
The Italian Antitrust Authority (AGCM) has ruled that there is no evidence that Sky Italia’s acquisition of the UEFA Champions League TV rights (2012-2015) and FIFA World Cup TV rights (2010-2014) represents an abuse of dominant position.
The Authority underlined that the exclusive TV rights for the Champions League were assigned through a competitive process and also that, subsequently to the inquiry, Sky Italia sub-licenced to Mediaset the rights for two out of the three Champions Leagues (2012-2013 and 2013-2014).
Regarding the World Cup, the Authority said that the view of the main matches was guaranteed on free-to-air channels by an EU directive.
The ruling followed a procedure initiated at Mediaset’s request in November 2010.