Brazil’s antitrust enforcer has said it has serious indications that 8 sports media agencies and broadcasters, including Telefónica and the European Broadcasting Union, colluded over the acquisition of sports broadcasting rights on a worldwide basis.
According to CADE, from at least 2008 through 2017, the group entered into agreements to control prices and bids in competitions for the rights to sports media, sporting events and the provision of consultancy or advisory services.
The investigations show that the group divided the market through the presentation of coverage proposals and that it combined abstentions in processes and joint submission of bids in competitions, the so-called joint-bid agreements. According to CADE, there is evidence that those involved were also exchanging “competitively sensitive” information.
“The conduct of the companies may have affected competition processes for the sale of broadcasting rights for events promoted by sports federations, clubs or other holders of international competitions in the interterritorial, intercontinental and global scopes”,
says CADE in a statement.
Companies that are part of cartels are subject to penalties such as administrative fines between 0.1% and 20% of their turnover. People who commit illegal acts can pay a fine between R$50,000 and R$2 million. For individual administrators, the penalty is payment of 1% to 20% of the amount applied to the company.
Source: Gov.br
