BT has won the right to appeal against last August’s ruling by the Competition Appeal Tribunal that put an end to the forced discounting by BSkyB of the wholesale rates for Sky Sports 1 and 2.
The Tribunal concluded Ofcom’s core competition concern that Sky had deliberately withheld from other retailers the supply of its premium channels to be unfounded.
The original dispute related to the March 2010 order by Ofcom. The regulator set a wholesale price of £10.63 (€11.90) per subscriber per month when sold on a standalone basis. This reduced the price by 23.4% below the current wholesale price to cable operators. The bundle of Sky Sports 1 and 2 favoured by the majority of customers was reduced by 10.5% to £17.14. The intervention followed a three-year review into the pay-TV market after complaints from Virgin Media, BT and Setanta Sports.
It can be expected that the hearing will be heard on the next few weeks.
