The Comisión Nacional de los Mercados y La Competencia (CNMC), Spain’s competition regulator, has hit LaLiga, the organising body of Spanish club football, with a €250,000 ($280,000) fine after upholding a complaint lodged by commercial broadcaster Mediaset.
The ruling issued today (Friday) comes after LaLiga in March maintained that Mediaset was in breach of its broadcast regulations after the CNMC opened proceedings against the organisation. The CNMC took action after Mediaset and fellow commercial broadcaster Atresmedia were prevented from accessing LaLiga stadiums.
The watchdog claimed LaLiga was breaching article 19.3 of La Ley General de Comunicación Audiovisual, impacting on citizens’ right to information. Mediaset earlier filed a complaint with the CNMC against LaLiga allegedly breaching the terms of an agreement to broadcast match clips. Mediaset was protesting a decision by LaLiga preventing the company from having cameras in stadiums during game weeks 24 and 25 of the top division of domestic football.
In its ruling today, the CNMC said it considered LaLiga responsible for a serious administrative breach of La Ley General de Comunicación Audiovisual, which obliges the provision of media access for events of general public interest, regardless of whether the company holds exclusive rights.
The CNMC said the ban was limited to access to the pitch and allowed recording in the press rooms and mixed zones, but added that the law was still broken. The CNMC said: “Specifically, the LFP (Spanish Football League) prohibited the cameras of the Mediaset group (Telecinco and Cuatro) to access the sports venues during the days of the Primera Division number 24 (held 24, 25 and 26 of February) and 25 (February 28 and March 1-2), and the 27th round of the Segunda Division (for the season 2016-17).”
LaLiga can appeal the decision, which marks the latest ruling on access to Spanish football. LaLiga had claimed Mediaset had breached the terms of an agreement that grants it access to game clips. In January 2016, the CNMC ruled that LaLiga must provide a 90-second summary of every game from the top division of domestic football and allow free access to stadiums for broadcasters.
The ruling followed a complaint from Mediaset whose cameras had initially been banned from Spanish top-tier matches by LaLiga after the broadcaster refused to accept conditions imposed on free-to-air broadcasters regarding limits of 90 seconds per weekend on match recaps.
LaLiga imposed the restrictions in an effort to protect the rights of public-service broadcaster TVE, which acquired free-to-air rights for the top tier for the 2015-16 season. Mediaset, which owns the Telecinco and Cuatro channels, had argued there should be coverage of each game and the CNMC ruled in its favour.