BT Sport and Sky Sports consult on freelancer day rates as watchdog continues probe on ‘cartel’
BT Sport and Sky Sports are said to have consulted on day rates for freelancers just as the UK competition watchdog continues its investigation into potential collusion in sports broadcasting.
In an email shared with the FT and dated July 2018, a senior executive at BT Sport wrote: “After consultation with Sky Sports, BT Sport will increase the daily rate . . . by £10 per day to £380.”
The leak to the FT appears to suggest that the media titans were colluding on the price offered to freelance workers.
The news comes after the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) opened an investigation last week into whether BT, IMG Media, ITV and Sky had fixed rates offered to freelancers.
The firms are being investigated under Section 25 of the Competition Act, which allows the watchdog to look into potential cartels. All firms said they were cooperating.
The watchdog said it had “reasonable grounds” to suspect at least one breach of competition law, focusing on skilled freelance staff, including camera crews and sound engineers.
BT Sport said in a statement: “While we take these allegations extremely seriously, we are unable to comment due to the ongoing investigation with the CMA.”
Sky Sports declined to comment.
Commenting on the fresh investigation last week, partner at Addleshaw Goddard Rona Bar-Isaac told Morning Wire that the case was interesting because it focused on the purchase of services rather than on the sale side.
She said this was an area the CMA has “not traditionally prioritised as lower costs would usually be expected to mean lower prices for the end consumer.”
TMT analyst at PP Foresight Paolo Pescatore said that the timing of the case was particularly interesting, pointing to the recent BT Sport/Discovery joint venture.
He added that we should “expect to see greater focus on sports broadcasters over coming years”, with streamers like Amazon Prime entering the space.