Rivals attack Sky's ITV stake

Rival broadcasters fear BSkyB's 17.9% stake in ITV could lead to fewer free-to-air stations and stifle competition for acquisitions and emerging technology, according to submissions to the Competition Commission published today.

The commission invited views on the move after Ofcom and the Office of Fair Trading warned that Sky stake could be anti-competitive and against the spirit of public service broadcasting.

In its submission, the BBC raised concerns that BSkyB could pressure ITV to migrate its digital channels onto a subscription-based model, which in turn would weaken Freeview.

Chief operating officer Caroline Thomson said: "BSkyB's control over ITV carries the risk that ITV may change its strategic position in a way that would have a negative impact on the achievement of various public policy objectives and would harm the competitive process."

Since the two parties will control around 42.5% of the digital terrestrial platform, Thomson argued they could influence the services on offer, potentially in favour of pay services.

Its submission claimed that it also risked ITV abandoning its support for open standards on the digital terrestrial platform in favour of equipment based on BSkyB's proprietary access technology.

Among Virgin and Channel 4's concerns was the observation that as well as having the largest stake in ITV, potentially with more than 25% of votes cast at shareholder meetings, BSkyB is the only stakeholder with a high level of experience in broadcasting, which would inevitably influence its direction.

Virgin said BSkyB had "no record as a passive investor and has a strong incentive to influence ITV", adding; "The board and senior management of ITV will pay close regard to BSkyB's wishes."

C4 also claimed that the stake could reduce competition on sports and other acquisitions such as movies and US dramas, as well as on emerging platforms such as mobile, threatening their future.

The Competition Commission is inviting submissions from interested parties until late August, and will publish initial findings in September.

Source: Broadcast Now