Three British television broadcasters have been fined after a government agency found they illegally shared information on freelancers and their pay.
The practice involved the BBC, ITV and British Telecom (BT) colluding to fix the pay of camera technicians, sound operators and other production crew members during soccer (football) and rugby matches.
The investigation was launched three years ago after the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) received information that Comcast-owned Sky Group was fixing the fees paid to freelancers by sharing information with others regarding how much they paid for contract work.
Sky was found to have shared information illegally in as many as 10 instances, but the broadcaster will not pay a fine because it cooperated with the CMA during its investigation.
Instead, the BBC will pay £424,000 (around U.S. $548,000) for participating in the price fixing, while ITV will pay £340,000 (around U.S. $439,000) for doing the same.
BT, which no longer broadcasts sports programming, will pay the heaviest penalty, with £1.7 million (around U.S. $2.2 million) owed to regulators. The telecom’s former sports programs are now part of Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) and the channels were replaced by TNT Sports.
IMG, a sports production company that facilitated many of the freelance work arrangements, will also pay £1.7 million for its role in the scheme.
“Millions watch sports on TV each day, with production teams working behind the scenes to make this possible, and it is only right they are paid fairly,” Juliette Enser, the Executive Director of the CMA, said in a statement. ” Companies should set rates independently of each other, so pay is competitive – not doing so could leave workers out of pocket. Employers must ensure those who hire staff know the rules and stick to them to prevent this happening in the future.”
Other non-sports companies had been investigated for similar allegations, including Hat Trick Productions, Red Planet Pictures, Tiger Aspect Productions and Sister Pictures, but an investigation into those firms was closed without action.
