Ofcom published today further consultation documents as part of its Pay TV market investigation and its consideration of the proposal from BSkyB/Arqiva for a new Pay TV service called “Picnic” on digital terrestrial TV (DTT).
Pay TV Market Investigation
Ofcom considers that certain content - live Premier League football and first-run Hollywood films - is of particular importance to consumers of Pay TV services. Ofcom is consulting on its view that BSkyB has market power in the wholesale supply of this content, and that BSkyB has an incentive to limit the distribution of this content to competitors, in a manner that favours its own satellite platform.
Ofcom is also consulting on a proposal to require Sky to make this content more widely available on a wholesale basis to other retailers. This proposal should enable consumers to access this content regardless of their choice of Pay TV platform, and provide consumers with an increased choice of service bundles.
BSkyB/Arqiva proposal for “Picnic”
In the separate document on “Picnic”, Ofcom is consulting on its view, consistent with the position set out in the market investigation document, that consent be given to Picnic, but only subject to certain conditions.
The proposed conditions include BSkyB making the premium sport and film channels contained within “Picnic” available on a wholesale basis to other retailers, and additional conditions which are intended to ensure the effective implementation of wholesale arrangements.
This should enable consumers of DTT services to access this content from a variety of retailers.
The consultations are for a period of 10 weeks and will close on 9 December 2008.
The Pay TV consultation document, which includes a short and clear summary, can be found here: www.ofcom.org.uk/consult/condocs/second_paytv/
The consultation on “Picnic” can be found here: www.ofcom.org.uk/consult/condocs/picnic/
