On April 11, 2013, the Portuguese Competition Authority opened an infringement proceedings against PPTV, Olivedesportos, CIM, Sportinveste and Sport TV.
The AdC investigation examined the agreements established between CIM, through its PPTV and Olivedesportos subsidiaries, and with the First and Second League football clubs. Clubs, which own the television rights to their games and advertising at their stadiums, assign those rights to intermediaries such as PPTV and Olivedesportos, who then resell those rights to television operators.
The contractual relationship between the football clubs and the CIM group revealed a risk of foreclosure to competitors of the CIM group, essentially due to the excessive duration of the exclusivity clause; the suspension mechanism and the right of first refusal.
In the light of the AdC’s concerns, the CIM Group submitted a set of commitments to put an end to the identified practices, which was subjected to public consultation. According to the commitments, the exclusive relationship between the CIM group and the First and the Second League football clubs would be limited to a maximum of three consecutive sports seasons. The suspension clause, if applicable, cold never extend the duration of the contract. In addition to the three consecutive sporting seasons, the right of first refusal was also deleted.
Considering the set of commitments submitted and the comments received by the AdC during the public consultation period, the AdC concluded that the commitments would eliminate the potential restrictive effects on competition while protecting consumers. In addition, the commitments ensured the possibility for competitors to enter or expand in the market.
On June 1, 2015, AdC made it mandatory to comply with the commitments submitted by the Controlinveste Media group (CIM, Olivedesportos and PPTV) issuing a commitments decision to CIM, Olivedesportos and PPTV and a filing decision to SPORT TV and Sportinveste.