The Ukrainian Supreme Court has ordered the competition regulator AMKU to conduct an investigation into monopoly in the country’s TV market.
According to the cable operator Lanet, the court considered its cassation appeal about the AMKU’s inactivity and made a final decision in its favour.
It adds by way of background that Ukrainian media groups (Media Group Ukraine, StarLightMedia, 1+1 media and Inter Media Group) started putting pressure on Lanet in March 2021. Firstly, the commercial director of StarLight Digital Mykola Fayengold (television channels ICTV, Novy Kanal, STB, etc., which are included in StarLightMedia, which belongs to Ukrainian oligarch Viktor Pinchuk) announced the termination of contracts with media groups. At the same time, a condition was announced under which early termination of the contracts would be avoided – a 30% increase in the price for retransmission rights for Lanet.
After terminating the contracts, Lanet sent a statement to AMKU, pointing out anti-competitive actions by the four largest Ukrainian media groups. But in August 2021, AMKU refused to make any decision regarding its appeal. This led Lanet to challenge AMKU’s inaction in court.
