The UK’s media regulator, Ofcom, will launch an investigation into pay-television broadcaster BSkyB over the wholesale supply of its sports channels following a complaint by telecommunications company BT, according to the Reuters news agency.
Ofcom said that the investigation would look into BT’s claims that the terms under which Sky offered its main sports channels, Sky Sports 1 and Sky Sports 2, to BT’s YouView platform reflected an abuse of Sky's market dominance.
BT said that Sky is making the supply of the two channels conditional on BT making its own sports channels available to Sky for retail on Sky’s platform.
BSkyB said in a statement: “Sky considers BT's latest complaint to be entirely without merit. We look forward to engaging constructively with Ofcom.”
BT is preparing to launch a new pay-television sports service in the UK this summer, challenging Sky’s long-held dominance in the market.