Hat Trick, Tiger Aspect, Hartswood Films, Red Planet and Sister all named
ITV, the BBC and a host of indies are being investigated by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) for suspected breaches of competition law, relating to freelancers.
The watchdog announced it had launched the inquiry today in relation to “the purchase of freelance services and the employment of staff supporting the production, creation and/or broadcasting of television content in the UK, excluding sport content”.
It does not go into further detail as to the nature of the suspected breaches.
ITV and the BBC are being scrutinised alongside production companies Hat Trick, Tiger Aspect, Hartswood Films, Red Planet Pictures and Sister.
The CMA said: “At this stage the CMA believes it has reasonable grounds to suspect one or more breaches of competition law. The CMA has not reached a view as to whether there is sufficient evidence of an infringement of competition law for it to issue a statement of objections to any party or parties.”
In a statement ITV said it is “committed to complying with competition law and to cooperating with the CMA’s inquiries” but declined to comment further.
A BBC spokesperson said: “The BBC notes the CMA announcement and will fully cooperate with the CMA’s inquiries.”
The inquiry is separate to a CMA investigation opened July last year looking at similar competition law breaches in sports programming production and broadcasting. Organisations under the spotlight include BBC, BT, IMG Media Limited, ITV, Sky, Sunset+Vine Productions.
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