Swiss regulator investigates Swisscom grip on sports rights

Swiss competition regulatoras launched an enquiry into the distribution of live sports on pay TV following initial indications that Swisscom and sports rights group Cinetrade, in which Swisscom holds a 49% stake, may have abused their position in the market.

According to COMCO, there are indications that Cinetrade and Swisscom hold a dominant market position in live sport on pay TV and have abused that position. The enquiry will look into whether Cinetrade has abused its position by refusing to distribute its offerings to Swisscom TV’s competitors.

COMCO will examine whether Cinetrade has discriminated against certain TV platform operators by distributing its Teleclub pay TV service to Swisscom on more favourable terms than those offered to competitors. It will also look into whether the bundling of Teleclub’s sports channels with a basic package that subscribers must sign up to is in according with the country’s competition law.