UPC Switzerland is facing a competition investigation for possible of abuse of a dominant position in the pay-TV market. The competition regulator Weko announced that its initial investigation showed UPC may be excluding other TV platforms from accessing its offer of live ice hockey matches and in particular non-cable platforms.
UPC acquired a year ago the exclusive rights to show the Swiss Ice Hockey Federation for five years, starting with the 2017-18 season. The cable operator is launching a new channel called MySports this summer to feature the hockey games and other sports.
While MySport will be offered by other regional networks, it notably has not reached a distribution deal with Swisscom. The incumbent earlier announced that it planned to file a complaint with the regulator over UPC's discrimination against non-cable networks. This is the latest escalation in the battle over sports rights in Switzerland, with UPC previously accusing Swisscom of similar infractions with its football offer.
