A fine that is not exaggerated, but that annoys Sky: according to the AGCM, pay TV would have disseminated misleading information on the award of football rights to Serie A football championship matches, mistakenly suggesting to its subscribers that they can continue to watch the matches of the Serie A championship as happened in the previous season.
It all started with a report from TIM, as stated in the text of the investigation: TIM is obviously an interested party, because according to the operator, the ways in which Sky communicated the loss of rights to subscribers were not fast and accurate, and this has led many users to “wait” before canceling and moving on to a solution that would allow the vision of all football. Solution that obviously TIM, together with DAZN, offered.
According to the Antitrust, Sky would have sent a series of messages to its subscribers of this type “For you this summer the cost of Sky Calcio is zero. We wrote to you two weeks ago to give you an update on the assignment of Serie A rights for the three-year period 2021-2024. At the moment, the context remains of great uncertainty and we have therefore thought of some initiatives to ensure, in the meantime, your satisfaction[…] this summer, relax and enjoy the best of Sky i as soon as the uncertainty is finally resolved […]”.
TIM and the Guarantor show that in reality the situation had already been outlined on May 14, 2021, with the award of Package 2 and the waiver of the appeal against the awarding of the remaining seven games planned exclusively for each matchday. After that date however Sky he would not send any communication to subscribers to say that the context was not at all uncertainindeed, he was sure that Sky would not have all 10 games.
Sky however points out that on 1 July 2021 subscribers were informed of the contents of the Sky Calcio package, and had the opportunity to choose at no cost, two months before the start of the new Serie A championship, whether to keep Sky or no. This was well before DAZN and TIM launched their respective offers dedicated to the new Serie A season.
According to TIM, the whole Sky strategy “would have been aimed at inducing the subscriber consumer not to change their choices with respect to the Football package and / or the contract with Sky, making him believe that he can still enjoy the same content of the package with the same professional, and to keep him in a state of absence of information, also regarding the incentive of the summer discount. In Tim’s opinion, these actions would have induced Sky customers, already subscribers to the Professional’s services, and in particular to the Football package, to maintain the existing relationship..”
Again according to the operator “Only on 1 July 2021 and, therefore, following the communication of the Startup and in the face of the threat of a precautionary intervention, the Professional sent his clients individual communications aimed at rectifying, at least in part, what was deceptively proposed up to that moment..”
The Guarantor therefore agreed with TIM, but Sky does not agree and issued the following note: “Sky takes note of today’s decision of the Antitrust Authority, but considers it unfounded and is preparing to assert its reasons in the competent fora. In fact, Sky promptly provided its subscribers with all the information that gradually became available in the context of objective uncertainty that characterized the assignment of the rights to the Serie A football championship for the three-year period 2021-2024. Last June, moreover, Sky informed its subscribers, also through individual communications, of the content and price of the Sky Calcio package, offering them the opportunity to withdraw from both the Sky Calcio package and the entire subscription for free. “
