Sky brought to earth: Victory for viewers as satellite giant is told to cut charges t

[Legal Beagles]

Sky has been ordered to reduce the cost of its sports and film packages for rivals by media regulator Ofcom.

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[WendyB]

Re: Sky brought to earth: Victory for viewers as satellite giant is told to cut charg

I can't open that link, can you paraphrase it please. Cos I'm a sky subsciber and the price of the sports package really naffs me off.

[scottishlass]

Re: Sky brought to earth: Victory for viewers as satellite giant is told to cut charg

Not sure if this will work Wendy


Sky brought to earth: Victory for viewers as satellite giant is told to cut charges to rivals | Mail Online

[Paule]

Re: Sky brought to earth: Victory for viewers as satellite giant is told to cut charg

Ofcom consults on proposals to increase access by consumers to premium Pay TV content - live Premier League football and Hollywood movies | Ofcom

Ofcom consults on proposals to increase access by consumers to premium Pay TV content - live Premier League football and Hollywood movies

Ofcom published today further consultation documents as part of its Pay TV market investigation and its consideration of the proposal from BSkyB/Arqiva for a new Pay TV service called “Picnic” on digital terrestrial TV (DTT).
Pay TV Market Investigation

Ofcom considers that certain content - live Premier League football and first-run Hollywood films - is of particular importance to consumers of Pay TV services. Ofcom is consulting on its view that BSkyB has market power in the wholesale supply of this content, and that BSkyB has an incentive to limit the distribution of this content to competitors, in a manner that favours its own satellite platform.

Ofcom is also consulting on a proposal to require Sky to make this content more widely available on a wholesale basis to other retailers. This proposal should enable consumers to access this content regardless of their choice of Pay TV platform, and provide consumers with an increased choice of service bundles.
BSkyB/Arqiva proposal for “Picnic”

In the separate document on “Picnic”, Ofcom is consulting on its view, consistent with the position set out in the market investigation document, that consent be given to Picnic, but only subject to certain conditions.

The proposed conditions include BSkyB making the premium sport and film channels contained within “Picnic” available on a wholesale basis to other retailers, and additional conditions which are intended to ensure the effective implementation of wholesale arrangements.

This should enable consumers of DTT services to access this content from a variety of retailers.

The consultations are for a period of 10 weeks and will close on 9 December 2008.

The Pay TV consultation document, which includes a short and clear summary, can be found here: Pay TV second consultation | Ofcom

The consultation on “Picnic” can be found here: Proposed BSkyB Digital Terrestrial Television Services | Ofcom

Ofcom publishes Pay TV consultation | Ofcom

Ofcom publishes Pay TV consultation

Ofcom published today further consultation documents as part of its Pay TV market investigation and its consideration of the proposal from BSkyB/Arqiva for a new Pay TV service called ‘Picnic’ on digital terrestrial TV (DTT).

Ofcom considers that certain content – live Premier League football and first-run Hollywood films – is of particular importance to consumers of Pay TV services.

Ofcom is consulting on its view that BSkyB has market power in the wholesale supply of this content, and that BSkyB has an incentive to limit the distribution of this content to competitors, in a manner that favours its own satellite platform.
Premier League

Ofcom is also consulting on a proposal to require Sky to make this content more widely available on a wholesale basis to other retailers.

This proposal should enable consumers to access this content regardless of their choice of Pay TV platform, and provide consumers with an increased choice of service bundles.

In the separate document on ‘Picnic’, Ofcom is consulting on its view, consistent with the position set out in the market investigation document, that consent be given to Picnic, but only subject to certain conditions.
Picnic proposal

The proposed conditions include BSkyB making the premium sport and film channels contained within ‘Picnic’ available on a wholesale basis to other retailers, and additional conditions which are intended to ensure the effective implementation of wholesale arrangements.

This should enable consumers of DTT services to access this content from a variety of retailers.

The consultations are for a period of 10 weeks and will close on 9 December 2008.

This executive summary will explain more about the Pay TV consultation.

Pay TV second consultation | Ofcom

Summary
Headline summary

1.1 We opened our investigation into pay TV in early 2007, following a submission from BT, Setanta, Top Up TV and Virgin Media. Our first consultation, in December 2007, set out some initial concerns relating to the manner in which premium content is distributed. This further consultation explores those concerns in more detail, and sets out for consultation our proposals for addressing them.

1.2 Consumers’ choice of pay TV service is primarily influenced by the content that is available, rather than by platform features. Some content is of particular importance: live Premier League football and first-run blockbuster movies have an especially wide appeal, and are not available via free-to-air TV. We consult in this document on our view that channels containing these types of content are in their own narrow wholesale markets, and that Sky has market power in those markets.

1.3 This market power gives rise to two concerns. First, that Sky is likely to limit the distribution of those channels to other retailers, either reflecting its belief in its own greater efficiency than other retailers or a desire to limit the ability of other retailers to compete effectively; our review of the evidence indicates that distribution of these channels is indeed limited. Second, Sky may be able to set wholesale prices above the competitive level; difficulties with analysing wholesale margins make it difficult to draw firm conclusions on this.

1.4 Markets where competition is weak do not deliver the best outcomes for consumers. The limited retail competition that we see in pay TV as a result of limited distribution of premium content is likely to manifest itself in terms of reduced choice, reduced retail innovation, reduced platform innovation or higher prices. For example, consumers on a number of platforms are currently unable to access the most valuable sport and movie content, while even those consumers who can access this content have a limited choice of service bundles. While the UK has a strong track record of technical innovation in areas which play to the strengths of Sky’s satellite platform, the same has not historically been true of innovations such as video on demand, which play to the strengths of platforms other than Sky’s.

1.5 We propose to address our concerns by requiring Sky to wholesale designated premium channels on regulated terms. In this document we are consulting on the use of our sectoral competition powers under section 316 of the Communications Act to put such an obligation in place.

1.6 We may need to return to the question of whether to make a reference to the Competition Commission under the Enterprise Act. This might be appropriate if, for example, we believed there was merit in considering some form of additional intervention into the way in which specific content rights are sold. However, if we proceed with the proposals set out in this document, then it may be premature to consider any further intervention until we can properly assess the effects of our proposed remedy.

1.7 We welcome stakeholders’ views on the concerns we have expressed and on our proposed remedy.

Full document attached