CELEX: 62016TA0873
Language: en
Date: 2018-12-12 00:00:00
Title: Case T-873/16: Judgment of the General Court of 12 December 2018 — Groupe Canal + v Commission (Competition — Cartels — TV distribution — Decision making commitments binding — Territorial exclusivity — Preliminary evaluation — Assignment of third-party contractual rights — Proportionality)

25.2.2019   
            
            
               EN
            
            
               Official Journal of the European Union
            
            
               C 72/22
            
         
      Judgment of the General Court of 12 December 2018 — Groupe Canal + v Commission
      (Case T-873/16) (1)
      
      ((Competition - Cartels - TV distribution - Decision making commitments binding - Territorial exclusivity - Preliminary evaluation - Assignment of third-party contractual rights - Proportionality))
      (2019/C 72/27)
      Language of the case: French
      
         Parties
      
      
         Applicant: Groupe Canal + (Issy-les-Moulineaux, France) (represented by: P. Wilhelm, P. Gassenbach and O. de Juvigny, lawyers)
      
         Defendant: European Commission (represented by: A. Dawes, C. Urraca Caviedes and L. Wildpanner, acting as Agents)
      
         Interveners in support of the applicant: French Republic (represented by D. Colas, J. Bousin, E. de Moustier and P. Dodeller, acting as Agents); Union des producteurs de cinéma (UPC) (Paris, France) (represented by: É. Lauvaux, lawyer); C More Entertainment AB (Stockholm, Sweden) (represented by: L. Johansson and A. Acedevo, lawyers); and European Film Agency Directors — EFADs (Brussels, Belgium) (represented by: O. Sasserath, lawyer)
      
         Intervener in support of the defendant: Bureau européen des unions de consommateurs (BEUC) (Brussels, Belgium) (represented by: A. Fratini, lawyer)
      
         Re:
      
      Action under Article 263 TFEU seeking annulment of the decision of the European Commission of 26 July 2016 relating to a proceeding under Article 101 TFEU and Article 53 of the EEA Agreement (case AT. 40023 — Cross-border access to pay TV), which makes the commitments offered by Paramount Pictures International Ltd and Viacom Inc. legally binding, in the context of licence agreements on audiovisual content that they concluded with Sky UK Ltd and Sky plc.
      
         Operative part of the judgment
      
      The Court:
      
                  1.
               
               
                  Dismisses the action;
               
            
                  2.
               
               
                  Orders Groupe Canal + to bear its own costs and to pay those of the European Commission, excluding those incurred in relation to the intervention of the French Republic, the European Film Agency Directors — EFADs, the Union des producteurs de cinéma (UPC) and C More Entertainment AB, and by the Bureau européen des unions de consommateurs (BEUC);
               
            
                  3.
               
               
                  Orders the French Republic, EFADs, UPC and C More Entertainment AB to bear their own costs and pay those incurred by the Commission in relation to their interventions.
               
            
         (1)  OJ C 38, 6.2.2017.