GO, Melita trade salvoes over sharing football broadcasting rights

Replying a statement issued by Melita earlier in the day, GO stressed that it remains available to resume discussions should Melita “rethink” its position and agrees to discussions whose ultimate objective is to ensure a fair level playing field in the TV market in the interest of consumers.

GO has acquired the exclusive broadcasting rights over the English Premier League and Italian Serie A starting from the next football season which kicks off in August. “GO would like to make it clear that any discussions on the matter of giving any third-party access to premium content, including all sports content, are subject to the original terms of the bidding process and the contractual arrangements entered into with the international rights-holders,” the company said in a statement today.

“GO pursued such content at a significant cost through a competitive bidding process, aimed at gaining a competitive position that mitigates channel capacity restrictions resulting from the number of frequencies assigned to GO by the authorities,” the company said. It added that Melita was not faced with similar channel capacity restrictions, and that granting of access to premium content to third parties “would lead to GO losing on the value of the considerable investment it made in the Premier League and Serie A."

"Discussions limited solely to giving any third-party access to such content would reinforce Melita’s current hold on the TV market and significantly limit GO’s ability to compete in the premium TV market. Such discussions go against the spirit of fostering competition and long term sustained consumer welfare.”

But Melita claimed this was the second that GO had refused its proposal on sharing broadcasting, saying the company was protecting its own financial interests at the expense of consumers. "Even before the last round of bidding for TV sports rights held last Autumn, Melita had approached GO to discuss ways how to make premium sports content available to consumers at affordable prices and with easier access. Back then, GO had refused Melita's offer to enter discussions on the subject and last Thursday, GO refused again a very detailed financial proposal presented by Melita explaining the prices Melita is willing to pay as part of a wholesale agreement between the operators to share sports channels."

GO stressed that it never received any formal proposal on the matter of collaboration in this area, and even so, the solution informally communicated by Melita last  autumn would have meant that the customer would still require two services  from two different service providers. Furthermore, the so-called 'detailed financial proposal' to which Melita referred to in its previous statement “is a mere paragraph in a letter sent by Melita to GO this week indicating an unrealistic value to sports content.”

"The offer received from Melita this week continues to reinforce the view that Melita is after gaining access to this content on the cheap following its failure to win the bidding process."

GO plc is now claiming Melita “does not want to abide by the request of the Parliamentary Social Affairs Committee to evaluate the possibility that both organisations discuss constructively how they can extend access to premium content to each other and share network infrastructure, so as to ensure a fair level playing field in the market and in the interest of customers.”

“Moreover, Melita's assertions confirm Melita's true intentions which are those of regaining access to premium content, namely English Premier League and Italian Serie A, which it lost following a competitive bidding process in autumn 2009,” the company said. “Melita is historically known for not wanting to share and open up its cable network infrastructure."

The telecommunications firms met on Thursday to explore if there is common ground to pursue the possibility that both organisations discuss constructively how both organisations can extend access to premium content to each other and share network infrastructure.

Melita claimed GO was delaying discussions on the broadcasting of Serie A, Premier League and UEFA Champions League, and in a strongly-worded statement said GO was "reinforcing its belief that consumers must pay in the region of €60 per month" to watch the football leagues. It also said it had already approached the company to share its channels, which GO refused.

The Social Affairs Committee in parliament has asked the TV providers to initiate discussions so that football matches are available to the public without having to pay a premium. Both GO and Melita, which offer digital TV platforms, say acquiring football broadcast rights is an expensive investment designed to win over more subscribers, but not necessarily more revenue from the premium subscription.