Melita and Go battle over content sharing

Talks between Go and Melita to explore the possibility of sharing access to premium content and network infrastructure have broken down, as the two operators yesterday traded charges.

The two operators accused each other of intransigence after they were called in to discuss the matter by the Social Affairs Committee last Tuesday, following an initiative by Nationalist MP David Agius.

Go acquired the exclusive broadcasting rights of the English Premier League and Italian Serie A from next season, with Melita retaining the Champions League rights.

Mr Agius is insisting operators should share sports content so that consumers do not have to subscribe to two content providers.

In a statement, Go said Melita continued to insist it would not permit access to its infrastructure as part of the discussions of giving access to third party television providers to premium television content.

Go said it pursued such content at a significant cost through a competitive bidding process, aimed at gaining a competitive position that mitigated channel capacity restrictions resulting from the number of frequencies assigned to Go by the authorities.

Melita, it said, was not faced with similar channel capacity restrictions and, therefore, the granting of access to premium content to third parties would lead to Go losing on the value of the investment it made in the Premier League and Serie A.

It said that discussions limited solely to giving any third-party access to such content would reinforce Melita's current hold on the television market and significantly limit Go's ability to compete in the premium television market.

"Such discussions went against the spirit of fostering competition and long-term sustained consumer welfare."

Nevertheless, Go said it remained available to resume discussions should Melita rethink its position, pointing out that the ultimate objective should be to ensure a level playing field in the television market in the interest of consumers.

In a reply later yesterday, Melita accused Go of delaying tactics to stall constructive discussions on the sharing of sports channels, which meant consumers were paying in the region of €60 a month to watch Serie A, the Premier League and UEFA Champions League.

"This is the second time that Go has blatantly refused Melita's proposal on this matter in an act which Melita can only describe as yet another display by Go to protect its own financial interests at the expense of consumers."

Melita encouraged the Parliamentary Social Affairs Committee to pursue the matter until it was resolved in the best interests of the consumer.

"Go is misleading the public and the Social Affairs Committee when it confuses the issues of sharing content and opening a network. There is no correlation between a requirement to wholesale premium channels and one to share infrastructure or 'open' a network."

Melita said Go had and still has the ability to replicate whatever Melita has and to have as many channels as it wished.

"That it does not have that many channels is a result of Go's investment choices; it is not a result of an inability to compete, which is the underlying rationale of open access," Melita said.

In another counter-statement last night, Go accused Melita of being "historically known" for not wanting to share and open up its cable network infrastructure.

"It has challenged regulations and took the authorities to court on the matter so as to preserve its financial interests. It has consistently refused granting any other provider access to its network. On the contrary, Go's fixed line infrastructure has always been open to third party operators."

The offer received from Melita continues to reinforce the view that it is looking to gain access to content on the cheap following its failure to win the bidding process, Go charged.