United Kingdom: BSkyB to review conditions of distribution of Sky Sports to BT Group

The Court of Appeal of England and Wales ruled in favour of the British telecoms group BT on 26/04/2013, ordering CAT (Competition Appeal Tribunal) to reconsider its position on the price of distribution for Sky Sports to other pay-TV providers UK on 17/02/2014.

Ofcom, the independent UK regulator of telecommunications competition had forced the BSkyB Group in March 2010 to offer Sky Sports 1 and 2 to other providers of pay-TV in the UK at 23% less than it had previously been sold after previous findings that BSkyB was abusing its dominant position in the UK market. In August 2012, CAT quashed the judgment of Ofcom, declaring it "unfounded."

Since the announcement of the creation of BT Sport and the acquisition of broadcast rights to the Premier League for the period 2013-2016, BT has negotiated with BSkyB, co-broadcaster of the English Premier League, the conditions of its distribution on the pay-TV platform, "YouView" for Sky Sports 1 and 2.
BSkyB, in addition to the price of distribution, demanded in return to distribute the BT Sport channels on its platform. BT turned to the…