Swisscom facing competition fine over Teleclub

Swisscom has rejected an allegation by the country’s competition watchdog that its pay TV unit Teleclub is abusing its dominant position and must sell its service to third-party service providers in a fair and non-discriminatory way.

ComCo, the regulator, has threatened the telco with a CHF143 million fine.

According to ComCo, Swisscom and Teleclub have abused their position in particular in regards to their hold on Swiss national football and ice-hockey rights. The commission called on the operator to provide all television platforms in Switzerland with equivalent Teleclub sports programming under non-discriminatory conditions.

Swisscom denied these allegations and said it regarded the sanction as unjustified. It said it was “surprised” by the regulator’s action, pointing out that it had invested signficnatly to make sports content attractive for pay TV and said that sports broadcasting was “previously a neglected segment in Switzerland”.

The operator said it would examine the regulator’s draft decree and issue a statement by the requested deadline. The telco has the option to contest the ruling with the Federal Adminsitrative Court and with the country’s supreme judicial body, the Federal Court.