Altice has pledged to appeal after the European Commission fined the telco €125m ($153m) for closing its 2015 acquisition of PT Portugal before it had secured regulatory approval.
The fine does not affect the commission’s approval of the takeover.
“Altice breached both the notification and the standstill obligations,” the commission’s competition regulator said. “The commission considers that these infringements are serious because they undermine the effective functioning of the EU merger control system.”
Altice, which has interests in sports platforms in various markets and operates French pay-television broadcaster SFR Sport, will have exclusive rights in France to the Uefa Champions League and Europa League football tournaments from the start of the 2018-19 season.
Just over a year ago, PT Portugal confirmed the acquisition of a 25-per-cent stake in domestic pay-television broadcaster Sport TV.
In November last year, Altice chief executive Michel Combes resigned after the telco issued a profit warning.