By Adria Calatayud
The U.K.'s antitrust watchdog fined four sports broadcast and production companies $5.5 million, saying an investigation found they shared sensitive information about fees for freelance workers.
The Competition and Markets Authority said BT, IMG, ITV and BBC agreed to pay fines totaling 4.2 million pounds, taking into account discounts after the companies admitted to breaking the law and settled the case.
The BBC, BT, ITV and IMG said in separate statements that they cooperated with the CMA throughout its investigation. BT, ITV and IMG said they implemented measures to strengthen their competition-law compliance measures.
The BBC admitted liability for three of the infringements identified by the regulator, a spokesperson said.
Sky also admitted the conduct but wasn't fined as it was the first to report its involvement before the probe started, the CMA said.
The regulator said it found 15 instances where a pair of companies unlawfully shared sensitive information about pay with each other.
BT and IMG received the biggest fines, at 1.7 million pounds each, while ITV and the BBC received penalties of 339,918 pounds and 424,165 pounds, respectively, the CMA said.
Write to Adria Calatayud at adria.calatayud@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 21, 2025 08:10 ET (12:10 GMT)
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