This statement concludes our review of the "wholesale must-offer" (WMO) obligation that requires Sky to offer its Sky Sports 1 and 2 channels to other pay TV retailers on a wholesale basis.
We have considered whether providers of channels which carry key sports content might limit distribution to rival pay TV retailers and whether that would prejudice competition. We consulted on the first phase of our review in December 2014 and we issued a supplementary consultation in July 2015. We have considered stakeholder responses to both these consultations in concluding this review.
For the reasons set out in this statement, we consider that regulation of providers of key sports channels is not currently appropriate and we have therefore decided to remove the WMO obligation from Sky.
Update: 19 December 2014
We have updated the consultation document to amend the wording in Section 6 (paragraph 6.3.1) and Annex 8 (paragraph A8.5).
Update: 23 December 2014
We have updated the consultation document to amend the wording in Section 6 (paragraph 6.3.1) and Annex 8 (paragraphs A8.2 and A8.5). The updated consultation document below contains corrected text. Stakeholders should refer to this version and should not use the previous version of the document published on 19 December.