Three Indonesian pay TV operators have filed a legal complaint with the Business Competition Supervisory Commission (KPPU) accusing their Malaysia-based rival Astro of "unfair" business practices, local press said Saturday.
The local operators, PT Indosat Mega Media (IM2 Pay TV), PT Indonesia Telemedia (Telkomvision) and PT MNC Sky Vision ( Indovision), claimed that Astro pay TV service in Indonesia had unfairly secured the exclusive rights to live broadcasts of the English Premier League (EPL) in Indonesia.
They said Astro secured the rights to the English Premier League without going through normal procedures, reported English daily the Jakarta Post.
Unlike in a normal bidding process, the three pay TV operators said that they were not given a level playing field in biding for the exclusive live broadcast rights by Singapore based ESPN Star Sports (ESS).
"All previous publications, which said that Astro won the exclusive right through a bidding process, are false. As the main players in the industry, we were never invited by ESS," Indovision president director Rudi Tanoesoedibjo was quoted as saying.
Prior to Aug. 11, TV viewers were able to watch English Premier League Matches live on all pay TV networks and local TV stations.
After ESS declined to respond to their complaints, the three operators decided to file a legal complaint against ESS, Astro Malaysia and PT Direct Vision to KPPU for the violation of the 1999 Anti-monopoly and Unfair Business Practices Law.
KPPU chairman Mohammad Iqbal said the complaint filed by pay TV operators against Astro (Direct Vision) was the second he had received this month. The first was filed a week ago by a group of citizens, although he declined to name them.
Iqbal said the KPPU had formed a team to investigate the case and expected to summon all related stakeholders next week, beginning with those who reported the case.
Source: Xinhua
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