±±¾©Èü³µpk10

The case directly follows a ruling in December by the Office of Fair Trading, which after a two-year enquiry said BSkyB had infringed UK competition law. The case centres on the pricing of Sky channels, a subject that has become highly contentious in the multichannel world.

The OFT gave the broadcaster the opportunity to respond to the findings before it makes a final decision on the case, which it says will not be likely before summer 2002. BSkyB said it would "robustly" defend itself against the OFT's finding that it has acted anti-competitively in its digital television practices.

The OFT found that BSkyB's discounts to distributors "may be set at a level that prevents rival premium-channel providers from entering the market". It also said that the margin between BSkyB's wholesale price for distributors and retail price, paid by subscribers, "may not be wide enough to allow a normal profit to be made by a third-party distributor of its premium channels".

The move is the latest move in a long-running battle between the two ITV companies and the Rupert Murdoch-owned Sky.

In November, ITV and Sky finally signed their long-awaited deal which will see ITV made available on Sky Digital. It made ITV channel ITV1 immediately available on Sky channel 103, next to BBC1 and BBC2 at 101 and 102, with ITV2 and ITV Sport set to join the service soon.

If it is found to have abused its dominant market position, Sky could face a fine of up to £200m.

According to a report in the Daily Telegraph, the ITV partners are also talking to cable operators Telewest and NTL about launching a combined case against Sky. According to the report, the debt-ridden NTL was receptive while Telewest was yet to respond.

According to reports, ITV Digital is losing millions of pounds on the half-a-million Sky subscriptions it carries, which it is more or less forced to carry as part of its ITV Digital offering. Without the Sky channels, the service would seem far less attractive to viewers.

ITV Digital accuses BSkyB of charging unfair prices for subscriptions to its channels. It also said that BSkyB's deals with some digital services prevented ITV Digital getting access to channels.

However, the ITV case depends largely on the final ruling that the OFT makes later this year.

If you have an opinion on this or any other issue raised on Brand

Republic, join the debate in the .