Spain’s National Court has suspended a fine of €38.2 million imposed on the Atresmedia by the regulator CNMC.
<em> El Pais reports that the court’s order, to which it has access, is conditional on Atresmedia, which owns Antena 3 and La Sexta, from ceasing practices related to advertising that CNMC has ruled to be anti-competitive.
Earlier, the National Court also suspended a fine of €38.9 million imposed on Mediaset, Atresmedia’s main competitor, for similar practices. Both were imposed on the two companies in November 2019.
Atresmedia and Mediaset account for around 85% of total TV ad spend in Spain and have been found to restrict access to the market for smaller broadcasters.
The National Court has in part defended its decision to suspend the two fines on the grounds that their excessive amount could cause significant damage to the two companies.
