The UK’s sports broadcaster heavyweights have been fined for unlawfully colluding to fix freelancer pay rates, leading to over £4m in penalties.

BT, IMG, ITV and the BBC have all admitted to illegally sharing sensitive payment information and details to suppress wages for production staff.

Sky, which also participated, avoided a financial penalty by reporting its involvement ahead of the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA)’s investigation.

The CMA revealed that between 2014 and 2021, these leading media companies engaged in over 15 instances of illegal information sharing to ensure freelancers were paid less by preventing competition for their services.

What’s more, internal messages within each firm revealed explicit conversations to avoid bidding wars and aligning rates.

IMG and BT were each fined approximately £1.74m, while the BBC and ITV were fined £339,918 and £424,165, respectively.

Sky escaped any form of penalty under the CMA’s leniency programme because it was the first to come forward.

Companies that put themselves forward to the CMA received fine reductions for cooperating with the competition regulator.