The Russian DTH platform Tricolor TV has demanded that a number of regional partners immediately cease cooperating with its competitor NTV-Plus.
According to Kommersant, Tricolor TV currently offers dealers two types of cooperation, namely multi-brand and mono-brand.
While the former allows them to work with other operators, the latter prevents them from doing so.
However, NTV-Plus does not agree with this policy, arguing that Tricolor TV’s requirements deprive regional partners of part of their earnings and also reduce choice for the end user.
This amounts to abusing its dominant market position and NTV-Plus is considering referring the matter to the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS).
Tricolor TV had 12.15 million subscribers as of the end of Q1, while NTV-Plus, which is the longest-established DTH platform in Russia, claimed only around 1 million.
NTV-Plus depends on partners for 80% of its regional sales and stands to lose between 50-70% of new connections if large ones stop selling its services.
