Italy: Issued ruling in investigation by competition authority against TIM and DAZN for possible anti-competitive practice

On 13 July 2023, the Italian competition issued its ruling in the investigation into certain contract clauses between TIM - a telecom, internet and TV operator - and DAZN, an online sports streaming platform. The competition authority determined that the agreement that imposed a restriction on DAZN in offering services to TIM's competitors, specifically regarding Serie A broadcasting, was anti-competitive and issued a fine of EUR 7.2 million to DAZN and EUR 776’000 to TIM. Further investigated clauses of the agreement concern the use of technical solutions by TIM that might not have been equally offered to competing telecommunications operators. Particularly, the competition authority was concerned about the blurring of the TV and internet streaming market, as service providers like TIM have dominance over said market and can easily dominate new aspects of telecom and internet services. The start of the investigation halted the agreement between the companies and a different agreement, without the exclusivity clause, was reached on 4 August 2022.