Bulgaria’s competition watchdog fines cable operator Blizoo 887 000 leva
Bulgaria’s Commission for Protection of Competition (CPC) said on October 15 that it has fined cable television and Internet service provider Blizoo 887 000 leva, or one per cent of its net revenue for 2013, for unfair trade practices.
CPC said that the fine was the result of an investigation opened following a complaint lodged by one of Blizoo’s customers, concerning the operator’s promotional offer of cable TV and Internet services in late 2002, which included a discount price for Blizoo’s HD Super Sport premium package.
The investigation found that within six months of making the offer, Blizoo excluded most of the channels from the premium package, without notifying customers, and instead offered the same channels as part of a new premium package, HD Select, for additional payment.
“In this way, Blizoo customers attracted by the offer to use the HD Super Sport package free of charge had to pay more money to watch the same sports channels as part of the HD Select package. This breaches fair trade practices, to the detriment of Blizoo’s competitors and its customers,” the regulator said in a statement.
The fine can be appealed within a period of 14 days at the Supreme Administrative Court, the regulator said.
(Photo: Brian Lary/sxc.hu)
