The Italian Competition Authority has closed the investigation launched against SKY Italia, ascertaining two violations of the Consumer Code and issuing sanctions for a total of 7 million euros.

The Authority found that SKY failed to provide clear and immediate information on the content of Football package for the 2018/19 season, implying to potential new customers that this package included all the matches of the Serie A championship, as in the previous three-year period.

Therefore, in the absence of information that conveyed immediately and with due emphasis the content of the offer and in particular the restrictions on the number of matches available (7 out of 10 for each day of the championship), football fan consumers could easily make the error of believing that the SKY Football package included the entire Serie A football championship, thus making a commercial decision that they would not have otherwise made, i.e. subscribing to this service for the 2018/19 football season.

The Authority also found that Sky adopted an aggressive practice insofar as it exercised undue influence with regard to customers subscribed to the SKY Football package, who, faced with the significant redefinition of the content of the package (30% reduction in Serie A matches and cancellation of the entire Serie B tournament), were not put in the position of being able to take freely the decision of whether to keep the package or not. Subscribers to this service were forced to choose between two options, both disadvantageous, namely to continue to pay for the package, the price of which, moreover, remained unchanged despite the different and reduced content compared to that originally chosen, or withdraw from the paid contract, incurring penalties and/or loss of discounts and promotions related to offers with a binding minimum duration.

Rome, 18 February 2019