In 2015, Telenet, Belgium’s largest television cable provider, and the V.Z.W. Verenigde veldritorganisatoren (V.V.) and the Union Cycliste Internationale (U.C.I.), both owners of cyclo-cross races broadcasting rights, concluded an exclusive agreement on broadcasting rights for, respectively, the Superprestige and the UCI World Cup cyclo-cross races for a duration of five years.
Following a complaint by Proximus, in November 2015 the Competition College of the Belgian Competition Authority imposed interim measures on Telenet and the V.V., confirming a prima facie infringement of competition law due to both the extensive duration of this exclusive agreement on broadcasting rights and the absence of any open, transparent and non-discriminatory tendering procedure. To comply with this decision, the V.V. had to choose either to suspend the exclusive agreement until the final decision on the merits by the Authority, and propose broadcasting rights at fair and reasonable conditions to interested parties, or to organize a fair tendering procedure for the allocation of broadcasting rights from the end of the ongoing season until the final decision on the merits.
The competition concerns raised by the complainant and confirmed by the Competition College concerned the potential anti-competitive effects, i.e. the risk of foreclosure, created by the agreements between Telenet and both the V.V. and the U.C.I. on the market for broadcasting rights for cyclo-cross races and the retail market for television services.
In the context of the investigation on the merits of the case, Telenet proposed several commitments to address these concerns:
- The acquisition of the broadcasting rights for the Superprestige, the UCI World Cup and the X20 Baths Trophy will be subject to an open, transparent and non-discriminatory tendering procedure.
- The duration of any broadcasting exclusive agreement for the above-mentioned races will be limited to four years.
- Telenet will not simultaneously acquire the exclusive broadcasting rights for more than 75% of the cyclo-cross races taking place during the same cyclo-cross season.
On 22 May 2024, the Belgian Competition Authority announced it had accepted those commitments and adopted a formal decision on the allocation and acquisition of broadcasting rights for cyclo-cross races which formalizes these commitments and closes its investigation. The commitments will remain in force until the end of the 2026–2027 cyclo-cross competition season.
Annabelle Lepièce
