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Telefonica Fined EUR 1.5 Million For Breaching Conditions Of DTS Merger

Spain’s communications and competition regulator CNMC has fined Telefonica a total of EUR 1.5 million for breaching one of the conditions of its acquisition of pay-TV platform DTS, or Digital+ as it is also known, by failing to provide wholesale access to the premium football content of the acquired channels at a guaranteed minimum rate. In a statement, the watchdog specified that its ongoing analysis of the acquisition conditions revealed that Telefonica wrongly calculated the costs of its ‘Movistar Partidazo’ football channel in its wholesale offer of pay-TV channels during the 2016-2017 season.

Specifically, Telefonica’s calculation of its own subscribers when providing the minimum guaranteed cost of the ‘Movistar Partidazo’ channel in July 2016 was lower than it should have been, resulting in higher costs for operators who were interested in contracting the channel (Vodafone, Orange and Telecable), said the CNMC. The company now has two months to file a contentious-administrative appeal before the National High Court against the fine.

Telefonica completed its takeover of DTS back in 2015, giving the company control of around 80 percent of Spain’s pay-TV market. At the time, the CNMC said it would require Telefonica to offer rivals 50 percent of the content of the premium channels broadcast on both Canal+ and Movistar TV, including Champions League and La Liga football, as well as Formula 1, Moto GP and other exclusive live sports events.

―Telecompaper

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