The Antitrust takes the field against Sky and Dazn. The competition guarantor has targeted the marketing of football matches for the 2018-19 season "for alleged unfair commercial practices and possible violations of consumer rights" and has opened two investigations against the TV networks.
According to the Authority, "the SKY company has adopted methods of advertising the offer of the football package for the 2018-2019 season which, in the absence of adequate information on the offer limits relating to the time slots, could have induced new customers to make an uninformed business decision".
Furthermore, with regard to those who were already subscribed to the football package, Sky's conduct could be considered aggressive given that the number of matches broadcast has decreased and the information on the possibility of withdrawing from the contract without penalties, deactivation costs and without the return of the discounts used was missing. In practice the accusation, which the Antitrust will now have to verify – is that Sky customers were induced to renew their subscription without realizing that the offer had changed. Finally, Sky "may also have violated article 65 of the Consumer Code by failing to acquire the consumer's consent with respect to the new option of the 2018/2019 football package".
As for the companies of the Perform group (trade name Dazn), the emphasis given to the claim "when you want, wherever you want" ended up in the crosshairs. According to the Antitrust, in fact, the slogan suggests to the consumer that he can use the service wherever he is while nothing is said about technical limitations (for example the Internet connection) that can prevent or make it more difficult to use. Furthermore, the message indicating "the possibility of being able to use a "free month" of the service offer "without a contract" ended up under observation, while in reality - observes the Antitrust - the consumer enters into a contract for which automatic renewal, with the consequent need to exercise any withdrawal in order not to renew it".
Not only that but signing up to enjoy free viewing for the first month “involves the automatic debit of the amount for the following months, as the consumer, by creating the account, would unknowingly give his consent to the subscription to the service, having to take steps to exercise the withdrawal and therefore avoid automatic debits". In practice, the trial is free but the subscription is triggered automatically (and thus the payment) unless the customer expressly cancels the service.
In this way, is the conclusion of the Antitrust that has fielded the general management led by Giovanni Calabrò, “such behaviors could integrate distinct unfair commercial practices in violation of articles 21, 24 and 25 of the Consumer Code, presenting both profiles of deception with respect to the information communicated by the professional regarding the technical characteristics of usability of the package and the methods of joining the offer, and profiles of aggressiveness, as the professional could have exerted an undue influence on consumers who, by accepting the offer to use the first month of the service free of charge, could suffer an automatic charge as a consequence of the unaware signing of a contract".
