I refer to a speech I delivered in Parliament and reported on The Times on February 1.

I would like to clarify that the UK Ofcom (the UK Communications Regulator) addressed the issue of transmission of football packages (in Malta coined as the “Sports Rights” case), through specific provisions in the English Communications Act. I also said that analogous provisions are not found in the Maltese Competition Act and that is why the Maltese Office of Fair Competition could not react in an equal manner.

I used Ofcom’s decision to illustrate the complexity of such cases. I also explained the great detail Ofcom went into and to support my argument I referred to various economic notions which Ofcom was required to analyse and therefore why this case required four years to be concluded.

As regards the relationship between sports rights and competition, I explained that as it was argued in front of the Social Affairs Committee by the then director of the Office of Fair Competition, although it is acknowledged that from a competition perspective this is not a comfortable issue, the granting of such rights is accepted provided specific conditions are met. One has to refer to cases decided upon by the European Commission i.e. the UEFA Champions League, FA Premier League and Bundesliga cases. Malta’s Competition Act and jurisprudence are based on European Union law.

Finally, I wish to state that Ofcom’s decision is not final and is subject to appeal.