Spain: Vodafone and Orange file a complaint against the purchase of Canal+ by Telefónica

The telecom groups Vodafone and Orange each filed an appeal before the National Court, the highest Spanish criminal court, against the conditions of the purchase of the Spanish pay-TV group Canal+ España by the telecom group Telefónica, according to the agency Europa Press on 07/07/2015. The court must determine whether it accepts the appeal before launching a formal procedure.

The two operators notably hope to force Telefónica to give its competitors access to 75% of its premium content, not just 50%, which is the current constraint. They also propose another price-fixing system for sports content, arguing that competition does not guarantee equal status and disputing the exclusivity periods of content acquired by Telefónica, fixed by Spanish law at three years.

• The CMBC (Comisión Nacional de los Mercados y la Competencia), the Spanish competition authority, approved the acquisition of DTS, a pay-TV operator marketed as Canal+ España by Telefónica "with conditions", on 23/04/2015.

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