OTTs will be able to offer BeIN Sports and BeIN LaLiga on equitable terms

The CNMC approves the conventional termination of the sanctioning file against Mediapro for the wholesale marketing of its football channels (BeIN Sports and BeIN LaLiga) in Spain.

The National Markets and Competition Commission (CNMC) has agreed to the approval of the conventional termination of the sanctioning file (file S/DC/0604/17) brought against Mediaproducto (Mediapro), for a possible abuse of a dominant position in the wholesale marketing of premium pay television channels in Spain.

This means that the commitments assumed by Mediapro immediately resolve the competition problem identified by the CNMC, without the need to make a definitive ruling on the anti-competitive conduct that has been attributed to it.

This file was initiated on March 30, 2017 after a Obwan Networks and Services complaint. This company manages the internet pay television platform (OTT) in Spain, Open sports, which specializes in sports content, live or delayed.

The issue raised was that Mediapro would have a dominant position in the wholesale marketing market for premium pay television channels in Spain, thanks to the fact that its channels BeIN Sports and BeIN La Liga, with content from the Champions League and Spanish LaLiga football, respectively, are very relevant to be able to compete in the pay television market in Spain.

Likewise, the possible abuse of Mediapro's dominant position investigated by the CNMC would derive from the application of possible discriminatory conditions to new OTT entrants of internet pay television in Spain, in the wholesale marketing of the BeIN Sports and BeIN La Liga channels.

This possible discrimination would arise from Mediapro's initial refusal to apply wholesale marketing models for the BeIN Sports and BeIN channels similar to those it has offered to traditional pay television operators such as Telefónica. That is, models based on a fixed price per season, for the new OTT internet pay television entrants in Spain.

With the commitments presented to the CNMC by Mediapro this discrimination is corrected. Specifically, it is offered to OTT internet pay television operators in Spain, such as Opensport, a wholesale marketing model for the BeIN Sports and BeIN La Liga channels under equitable and non-discriminatory conditions compared to those enjoyed by traditional operators such as Telefónica, and that take into account the scale of these new entrants.

These commitments apply to the current marketing cycle of the BeIN Sports and BeIN La Liga channels, which covers the 2015/2016 to 2017/2018 seasons, in the first case, and the 2016/2017 to 2018/2019 seasons, in the second.