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Switzerland: UPC faces competition probe over hockey offer

By  |  May 30, 2017

UPC Switzerland is facing a competition investigation for possible of abuse of a dominant position in the pay-TV market. The competition regulator Weko announced that its initial investigation showed UPC may be excluding other TV platforms from accessing its offer of live ice hockey matches and in particular non-cable platforms.

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    UPC acquired a year ago the exclusive rights to show the Swiss Ice Hockey Federation for five years, starting with the 2017-18 season. The cable operator is launching a new channel called MySports this summer to feature the hockey games and other sports.

    While MySport will be offered by other regional networks, it notably has not reached a distribution deal with Swisscom. The incumbent earlier announced that it planned to file a complaint with the regulator over UPC’s discrimination against non-cable networks. This is the latest escalation in the battle over sports rights in Switzerland, with UPC previously accusing Swisscom of similar infractions with its football offer.

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