The Swiss competition commission (Weko) has launched an investigation into the transmission of live sport on the country’s pay-TV networks.
It follows a preliminary investigation that found evidence of antitrust violations by the IPTV platform Swisscom and Cinetrade through its pay-TV subsidiary Teleclub.
Weko found evidence that Cinetrade and Swisscom had abused their position and now plans to look further into whether other operators had been denied benefits that Swisscom had enjoyed.
At issue is whether Cinetrade gave Swisscom favourable rates on its platform, where Teleclub was marketed as part of an extensive sports offer. There is also concern as to whether antitrust law was broken by insisting customers first buythrough the basic package before getting access to Teleclub.
Cinetrade has secured exclusive long-term rights to many key sports event. Weko fears Swisscom’s competitors could be hindered as a result of the current relationship.
