THE CENTRALIZED SALE OF TELEVISION RIGHTS
PRESS RELEASE
The Centralized Sale of Television Rights
On 10 February 1999, following a preliminary investigation lasting several months, the Authority resolved to investigate the Italian football League - LEGA CALCIO - to ascertain the existence of alleged violations of Section 2 of the Antitrust Act prohibiting anti-competitive agreements, in relation to the marketing of television broadcasting rights for football matches, both encrypted and plain.
The investigation began because of the fact that LEGA CALCIO, an association of 38 football clubs playing in the serie A and serie B football championships, has negotiated and continues to manage the centralized sale of television rights for the serie A and serie B Coppa Italia Championship matches, as evidenced from articles 1 and 25 of the Lega Calcio Regulations.
Since the ownership of television rights is vested in the individual football clubs which host the matches, the Authority held that the centralized sale by LEGA CALCIO of television rights for the main national football matches could constitute a horizontal agreement between the serie A and serie B professional football clubs, intended to restrict competition on the both the encrypted and the plain television broadcasting sports rights markets. For this agreement appeared likely to make it possible to charge uncompetitive prices for the sale of these rights which might be passed on to the consumer, in violation of competition law.
On 13 February, reporting the commencement of the investigations, a daily sports paper quoted in inverted commas words it attributed to the Authority to imply that it had prejudged the Lega's infringement of the Antitrust Act. These statements were taken up by a press agency and by other dailies, even though none of them are published in any written document, and have never been uttered by the Authority. Since the investigation had only just begun, and therefore only related to a possible offence that was still to be proven, it would have been wholly out of place to make any definitive statement on the affair. But it was equally wrong for statements of this kind to be reported in inverted commas, implying attribution to some official of the Authority, thus creating the impression of arbitrary conduct on the part of the Authority, which is first and foremost offensive to the Authority itself.
Rome, 15 February 1999