Monti pursues French state aid and UK soccer TV rights

Date: 02/10/03

By Peter Chapman

MARIO Monti, the competition commissioner, shrugged off his department's latest court setback by announcing legal action against serial state-aid offenders France and stepping-up a probe into the way Europe's biggest soccer league sold TV rights to Rupert Murdoch's BSkyB.

His assault came just a day after the European Court of First Instance outlawed a fine of €273 million levied in 1998 against 15 container shipping lines for forming a cartel. The Court upheld the illegality of the TransAtlantic Conference Agreement, but ruled the Commission had given the parties an insufficient opportunity to respond to their concerns.

Unabashed by this, Monti said the Commission was launching court action against France for failing to recoup, as promised, a €450-million advance to computer maker Bull. The payment had been approved in 2002 on condition the money was paid back by 17 June this year.

Monti then announced he is stepping-up a probe into the English Premier League's sale of rights to cover matches on TV and new-media including mobile phones.

In the Bull case, Monti said: “The fact that France did not claim the money back in our view constituted a grave violation of state aid rules.”

The move follows Monti's face-off with Paris last month over French plans to take a stake in stricken engineering firm Alstom.

Meanwhile Monti said he had “serious concerns” about the way the Premier League had sold-off the rights subsequent to a warning last year that initial plans to hold a single auction for audiovisual rights were too restrictive.

However, under the new tender BSkyB paid €1.45 billion for exclusive rights to show 138 live matches for three seasons from 2004. Experts said this is 8% less than it paid in June 2000 for half as many games.

“The announcements made so far by the Premier League are that BskyB will have a greater monopoly than in the past. This is bad for competition and consumers,” said Monti. He said the Commission will “set out its concerns to the parties” - code for issuing a follow-up 'statement of objections'.

Monti's move was attacked by UK Conservative MEP Jonathan Evans. He said: “Only the anonymous, out-of-touch bureaucrats in Brussels can claim that this would be in some way good for the football fans in Britain.”

On the court ruling, Monti declared himself satisfied that the judge had not questioned the substance of the Commission's findings. He said the executive had already put in place reforms to its procedures addressing many of the issues raised by the Court of First Instance.

• COMPLETING a frenetic day, Monti announced a combined €138.4 million fine on German chemicals firm Hoechst and three Japanese firms involved in a cartel for sorbates, used to preserve products such as mayonnaise and sausages.

A fifth firm, Chisso, escaped fines because it gave information about the cartel to officials. Monti confirmed he was also investigating state handouts to the Italian aerospace sector.