BSkyB: investigation into alleged abuse of a dominant position

Decision of the Office of Fair Trading under section 47 relating to decision CA98/20/2002: alleged infringement of the Chapter II prohibition by BSkyB.

• From: Competition and Markets Authority
• Published: 12 August 2003

• Case type: CA98 and civil cartels
• Case state: Closed
• Market sector: Telecommunications
• Outcome: CA98 - no grounds for action
• Opened: 17 December 2002
• Closed: 12 August 2003

No. CA98/20/2002

On 17 December 2002, the Director General of Fair Trading, following investigation under the Competition Act 1998, decided that there were insufficient grounds to find that British Sky Broadcasting Limited had abused a dominant position by exercising a margin squeeze on distributors of its premium channels, or by offering those channels in mixed bundles, and that it had not infringed the Chapter II prohibition by offering certain discounts with regards to those premium channels.

The Office of Fair Trading, which succeeded the Director General of Fair Trading on 1 April 2003, rejected two applications to vary that decision.

Full OFT decision: sky2.pdf

Published 12 August 2003