21 March 2025: the CMA issued an infringement decision to 5 companies involved in the production and broadcasting of sports content, and imposed fines totalling over £4 million.

The CMA’s decision encompasses 15 separate bilateral infringements of competition law. The CMA has found in each instance the disclosure and receipt, or the exchange, of competitively sensitive information in respect of rates of pay for freelance workers that support the production and broadcasting of sports content in the UK. The CMA has further found, in 10 of these 15 instances, that the objectives of the infringements included coordination on pay.

The decision is addressed to the following entities: the British Broadcasting Corporation (‘BBC’); BT Group plc (‘BT’); IMG Media Limited, its current parent company Endeavor Group Holdings, Inc, and its previous parent company Endeavor Operating Company, LLC (together ‘IMG’); ITV Broadcasting Limited and its parent company ITV plc (together ‘ITV’); and Sky UK Limited and its previous parent company Sky Limited (together ‘Sky’).

Sky (involved in 10 infringements between March 2014 and January 2021) alerted the CMA to its participation in the unlawful conduct under the CMA’s leniency policy and benefits from immunity from any fine.

The other 4 companies – BT, IMG, ITV and BBC – have settled and agreed to pay fines totalling £4,240,356.

• BT (6 infringements between August 2014 and September 2021) – total penalty of £1,738,453 (includes a 15% leniency discount and a 20% settlement discount)
• IMG (6 infringements between April 2016 and October 2021) – total penalty of £1,737,820 (includes a 40% leniency discount and a 20% settlement discount)
• ITV (5 infringements between March 2014 and May 2018) – total penalty of £339,918 (includes a 42.5% leniency discount and a 20% settlement discount)
• BBC (3 infringements between July 2016 and October 2021) – total penalty of £424,165 (includes a 20% settlement discount)

The freelance services affected differ from infringement-to-infringement. Across the totality of the 15 infringements, information was shared concerning rates of pay for the following twenty production roles fulfilled by freelancers: Assistant Producers; Camera Operators; Directors (aka Studio Directors); Editors; EVS Operators; Floor Managers (aka Studio Floor Managers); Gallery Production Assistants; Jib Operators; Makeup Artists; Producers; Production Assistants (aka Script Supervisors); Runners; Sound Guarantees; Sound Supervisors; Sound Technicians; Technical Producers; Vision Engineers; Vision Guarantees; Vision Mixers; and VT Coordinators. None of the infringements affected all of these production roles, and many of these roles were affected by no more than three infringements.

The infringements took place between bilateral pairs of the parties on dates between March 2014 and October 2021, as follows:

• Infringement 1, involving ITV and Sky, in March 2014
• Infringement 2, involving BT and ITV, in August 2014
• Infringement 3, involving ITV and Sky, between August and September 2015
• Infringement 4, involving IMG and Sky, in April 2016
• Infringement 5, involving ITV and Sky, between April 2016 and January 2017
• Infringement 6, involving BBC and Sky, between July and November 2016
• Infringement 7, involving BT and Sky, between March and May 2018
• Infringement 8, involving ITV and Sky, in May 2018
• Infringement 9, involving IMG and Sky, in July 2019
• Infringement 10, involving BT and IMG in December 2020
• Infringement 11, involving BT and Sky, between December 2020 and January 2021
• Infringement 12, involving IMG and Sky, in January 2021
• Infringement 13, involving BT and IMG, in July 2021
• Infringement 14, involving BBC and BT, in September 2021
• Infringement 15, involving BBC and IMG, in October 2021

Published 21 March 2025