Paul glynn
Culture journalist
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Four of the largest sports distribution and production companies in the United Kingdom have been sentenced to a fine of more than 4 million pounds sterling for illegal collusion on independent remuneration rates.
The British competition regulator said that the BBC, BT, IMG and ITV had to pay 4.24 million pounds combined after being found for sharing information on the fees for self -employed workers, including cameras and sound technicians.
Sky has also admitted that it has broken the law, but avoided a fine after alerting the competition and the market authority (CMA) on its involvement before the investigation.
The freelancers are used by the five companies to create sporting content and work on live matches and events.
‘Okay, they are paid just’
The CMA said it has found 15 examples of two companies illegally sharing information on remuneration – such as day rates and increases – in order to coordinate the quantity of pinion to pay.
One of the companies told another that she “wanted to be aligned and compare the prices” but had “no intention of embarking on an auction war,” said the investigation.
The executive director of the regulator for the application of competition, Juliette Ensseer, noted how “millions of people watch sports on television every day, with production teams working behind the scenes” and that it was “right rightly, they are paid enough”.
“Companies should set the prices regardless of each other, so remuneration is competitive-not to do so could leave workers in their pocket,” she said.
“Employers must ensure that those who hire staff know the rules and stand there to prevent it from happening in the future.”
BT and IMG were sentenced to a fine of 1.7 million pounds sterling, while the BBC has to pay £ 424,000 and ITV received a fine of £ 340,000.
The four broadcasters told BBC News that they had fully cooperated with the investigation.
‘I took a number of measures’
A BBC spokesman said that he “took his obligations in competition law seriously and cooperated with the CMA throughout his investigation”.
“The BBC was involved in three of the 15 offenses identified by the CMA and has admitted responsibility for them as soon as possible,” he added.
“We highly appreciate the freelancers with whom we work, both in sport and in the BBC, and we will continue to work hard with the independent community to invest and develop talent.”
A spokesperson for the BT group said: “We take our obligations in competition law seriously and cooperated with the CMA throughout this investigation.
“After accepting the conclusions of this survey, we agreed to settle this case. We remain determined to ensure that our obligations are integrated at all levels of our company and have taken a certain number of measures to strengthen our competition and compliance initiatives.”
An ITV press release said: “ITV is fully determined to comply with competition law and cooperated with the AMC throughout its investigation.
“In the light of the CMA survey, we have implemented new measures to comply with competition law throughout the business.”
IMG refused to comment.
On Friday, the CMA also launched a similar survey on non -sporting TV productions, with the BBC, ITV, Hartswood Films, Hat Trick Productions, Red Planet Pictures, Sister Pictures and Tiger aspects under the spotlight.
