CNMC opens sanction file against Telefónica for the agreement with Dazn on the exclusive rights of Formula 1

MADRID, 4 May. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The National Commission for Markets and Competition has initiated a sanction file (SNC/DC/010/23) against Telefónica de España S.A.U for the agreement reached with Dazn regarding the exclusive rights of Formula 1 for the 2021, 2022 and 2023 seasons .

This resolution is part of the surveillance work to verify that Telefónica complies with the commitments and obligations assumed by Telefónica to preserve competition in the markets affected by this concentration operation.

Competition investigates whether the operator would have breached commitments it acquired when it bought DTS (formerly Sogecable) in 2015 and considers that the wholesale offer of its own premium channels should be carried out under "fair, reasonable, objective, transparent and non-discriminatory" conditions.

In a statement, the CNMC recalled that on April 22, 2015, it authorized the merger operation, conditional on Telefónica fulfilling a series of commitments that were extended for an additional period of three years by the resolution of July 9, 2020. .

Telefónica undertook to make available to other pay television operators in Spain a wholesale offer of its own premium channels under fair, reasonable, objective, transparent and non-discriminatory conditions and not to acquire or exploit exclusive broadcast or exploitation rights in Spain for channels television published by third parties.

In July 2021, the CNMC declared indications of non-compliance for the agreement between Telefónica and Dazn dated January 7, 2021 in which the operator sublicensed to Dazn the exclusive broadcast rights (previously acquired by Telefónica exclusively) of the Formula 1 competitions for the 2021, 2022 and 2023 seasons.

Telefónica and Dazn agreed on the conditions under which Dazn allowed Telefónica non-exclusive access to Dazn's content, and established the limitations for third parties to acquire these rights. The contract also determined the way in which customers who contract Telefónica packages that access Dazn content (computed as Dazn customers for the purposes of calculating the guaranteed minimum cost paid for the acquisition of Telefónica channels with sports content) are counted. premium).

According to the CNMC, the initiation of this file does not prejudge the final result of the investigation and a maximum period of three months is now open for the investigation of the file and for its resolution by the CNMC.