Spain: investigation against Mediapro (beIN Sports channels) for anti-competitive practices

The CMBC (Spanish competition authority) opened an inquiry against the Spanish audiovisual group Mediapro for anti-competitive practices regarding the application of discriminatory and unfair commercial conditions for the distribution of its pay channels beIN Sports and beIN LaLiga, announces the governmental authority on 04/04/2017.

These anti-competitive practices mainly concern OTT platforms wishing to carry the channels beIN Sports and beIN LaLiga. "The investigation was initiated following a complaint from Obwan Networks and Services, a distributor of sports audiovisual content in Spain through its OTT platform, Opensports. The Spanish competition authority has a maximum of 18 months for instruction and resolution of the case," said the regulator.

The pay channels beIN Sports and beIN LaLiga have been launched from a joint venture, beIN Sports España, between Mediapro and the Qatari audiovisual conglomerate beIN Media Group. The two groups launched the beIN Sports channels in Spain on 01/08/2015, and dedicated channel beIN LaLiga on 14/07/2016. These channels are distributed…