Sky "will have to offer its main sports channels to customers of BT’s YouView platform, after the pay-television group lost the latest skirmish in a long-running legal battle," according to Henry Mance of the FINANCIAL TIMES.
A ruling by the Competition Appeals Tribunal found that the so-called "wholesale must offer" rules -- requiring Sky to supply its channels at a set price to its rivals -- "should cover internet television services such as YouView."
YouView, whose shareholders include BT, TalkTalk and the BBC, "had not launched at the time the rules were first put in place." It is now in more than 1 million U.K. homes, and "has become central to BT’s television offering" (FT, 11/5). In London, Mark Sweney reported the decision by the Competition Appeal Tribunal "follows four years of legal wrangling, and, while it is an interim ruling, it nevertheless marks a major victory for Sky’s rivals and media regulator Ofcom." The interim ruling "is a victory for Ofcom, which had been hugely embarrassed by a scathing CAT ruling in 2012 that concluded the basis of the regulator’s decision to force Sky to cut the amount it charges rivals was 'unfounded'" (GUARDIAN, 11/5).
