The Commission for Fair Trading has been asked to order Melita Cable to "desist immediately" from exercising its exclusive rights over any content aired on Italian channels and received locally through a conventional television antenna.
The Office for Fair Competition (OFC) said yesterday there was sufficient prima facie evidence of abuse of a dominant position by Melita Cable, which could be distorting competition in the market.
The OFC has asked the Commission for Fair Trading to issue an interim measure against Melita Cable, pending its on-going investigations with regard to the acquisition and exercise of exclusive rights to broadcast certain sports events.
The OFC started ex officio investigations into Melita's conduct in the past months, prompted by "numerous complaints" filed by consumers who felt prejudiced by the company's practice of blocking the transmission of certain sports events broadcast on Italian free-to-air channels, which are included in Melita's basic reception package.
Since Melita Cable bought the rights to screen the upcoming World Cup locally, only a small selection of the 64 matches will be screened live on the local free-to-air channel. Several Melita subscribers have been protesting loudly after realising that the Champions league and UEFA matches were blocked out, unless one was subscribed to the sports channel.
Melita has insisted that any foreign broadcaster is obliged to encrypt the TV signal once it had acquired the exclusive rights for Malta. Failing to do so was tantamount to breaching rights, it held.
Although the OFC has not yet reached a formal decision with regard to Melita's conduct, the office wants Melita to stop blocking any sport content on channels like RAI, Mediaset and La 7.
In terms of the Competition Act, the Commission for Fair Trading may, at the request of the OFC director or of an undertaking or of a complainant, take interim measures to suspend any restrictive practice under investigation.
This takes place when it is "urgently necessary" to avoid a situation likely to cause serious, immediate and irreparable prejudice to the interests of any undertaking, or to harm the general economic interest.
The Commission for Fair Trading will now determine whether or not the taking of such interim measure against Melita is warranted in this particular case.
When contacted, Melita's head of marketing, Franco Degabriele, said the company would study in detail and see the implications of the 15-page report.
"We will communicate directly with the Office for Fair Competition and see what they request of us. We have always provided them with all the information they needed," Mr Degabriele said. He had no further comments to make.