France’s Competition Authority (L’Autorité de la concurrence) has fined TDF €20.6 million for hindering the activities of rival transmission companies.
According to local reports, this was done by intervening with local authorities, which must be asked for permission to build tower sites that would be required when participating in multiplex tenders.
They add that TDF’s actions were undertaken mainly in 2009, beginning in July when it approached almost all the local authorities in Alsace, the first region to start the transition from analogue to digital broadcasting.
TDF is a former state monopoly and commands an 80% share of the transmission market in France.
Its main competitors, Towercast and Itas Tim, lodged the initial complaint against the company.