Anti-competitive behaviour relating to freelance labour in the production and broadcasting of sports content
Source: gov.uk (2025-04-17)

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has issued an infringement decision under the Competition Act 1998 after investigating anti-competitive arrangements in relation to the purchase of freelance services supporting the production and broadcasting of sports content in the UK.

Case study: Lessons from the Competition and Market Authority (CMA)’s investigation into sports broadcasting and production companies that colluded on rates of pay for freelance workers.
- Businesses handed £4.2 million in fines following freelancer pay investigation (https://www.gov.uk/government/case-studies/businesses-handed-42-million-in-fines-following-freelancer-pay-investigation)
Administrative timetable

Non-confidential decision

17 April 2025: The CMA has published a non-confidential version of the infringement decision in this case.
- Non-confidential decision (PDF, 1.6MB) (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6800fe12e16c376084e7c70c/Non-confidential_decision_1.pdf) (17.4.25)
Infringement decision and settlement

21 March 2025: the CMA issued an infringement decision to 5 companies involved in the production and broadcasting of sports content, and imposed fines totalling over £4 million.

The CMA’s decision encompasses 15 separate bilateral infringements of competition law. The CMA has found in each instance the disclosure and receipt, or the exchange, of competitively sensitive information in respect of rates of pay for freelance workers that support the production and broadcasting of sports content in the UK. The CMA has further found, in 10 of these 15 instances, that the objectives of the infringements included coordination on pay.

The decision is addressed to the following entities: the British Broadcasting Corporation (‘BBC’); BT Group plc (‘BT’); IMG Media Limited, its current parent company Endeavor Group Holdings, Inc, and its previous parent company Endeavor Operating Company, LLC (together ‘IMG’); ITV Broadcasting Limited and its parent company ITV plc (together ‘ITV’); and Sky UK Limited and its previous parent company Sky Limited (together ‘Sky’).

Sky (involved in 10 infringements between March 2014 and January 2021) alerted the CMA to its participation in the unlawful conduct under the CMA’s leniency policy and benefits from immunity from any fine.

The other 4 companies – BT, IMG, ITV and BBC – have settled and agreed to pay fines totalling £4,240,356.

BT (6 infringements between August 2014 and September 2021) - total penalty of £1,738,453 (includes a 15% leniency discount and a 20% settlement discount)

IMG (6 infringements between April 2016 and October 2021) - total penalty of £1,737,820 (includes a 40% leniency discount and a 20% settlement discount)

ITV (5 infringements between March 2014 and May 2018) - total penalty of £339,918 (includes a 42.5% leniency discount and a 20% settlement discount)

BBC (3 infringements between July 2016 and October 2021) - total penalty of £424,165 (includes a 20% settlement discount)

The freelance services affected differ from infringement-to-infringement. Across the totality of the 15 infringements, information was shared concerning rates of pay for the following twenty production roles fulfilled by freelancers: Assistant Producers; Camera Operators; Directors (aka Studio Directors); Editors; EVS Operators; Floor Managers (aka Studio Floor Managers); Gallery Production Assistants; Jib Operators; Makeup Artists; Producers; Production Assistants (aka Script Supervisors); Runners; Sound Guarantees; Sound Supervisors; Sound Technicians; Technical Producers; Vision Engineers; Vision Guarantees; Vision Mixers; and VT Coordinators. None of the infringements affected all of these production roles, and many of these roles were affected by no more than three infringements.

The infringements took place between bilateral pairs of the parties on dates between March 2014 and October 2021, as follows:

Infringement 1, involving ITV and Sky, in March 2014

Infringement 2, involving BT and ITV, in August 2014

Infringement 3, involving ITV and Sky, between August and September 2015

Infringement 4, involving IMG and Sky, in April 2016

Infringement 5, involving ITV and Sky, between April 2016 and January 2017

Infringement 6, involving BBC and Sky, between July and November 2016

Infringement 7, involving BT and Sky, between March and May 2018

Infringement 8, involving ITV and Sky, in May 2018

Infringement 9, involving IMG and Sky, in July 2019

Infringement 10, involving BT and IMG in December 2020

Infringement 11, involving BT and Sky, between December 2020 and January 2021

Infringement 12, involving IMG and Sky, in January 2021

Infringement 13, involving BT and IMG, in July 2021

Infringement 14, involving BBC and BT, in September 2021

Infringement 15, involving BBC and IMG, in October 2021

Press notice: Sports broadcast and production companies fined £4 million in freelancer pay investigation (https://www.gov.uk/government/news/sports-broadcast-and-production-companies-fined-4-million-in-freelancer-pay-investigation)

Case information

12 July 2022: the CMA launched an investigation under section 25 of the Competition Act 1998 (‘CA98’) into suspected infringements of the Chapter I prohibition of the CA98 by undertakings involved in the production and broadcasting of sports content.

The investigation concerned the activities of these undertakings in relation to the purchase of freelance services which support the production and broadcasting of sports content in the UK.

The CMA investigated suspected breaches of competition law by the following:
- the British Broadcasting Corporation
- BT Group plc
- IMG Media Limited (including Premier League Productions)
- ITV plc
- Sky UK Limited
Personal data

The CMA may collect, use and share personal data for its investigations, including investigations under the CA98. This includes processing personal data for the purposes of the General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018.

For more information about how the CMA handles personal information, please see the CMA’s Personal Information Charter (https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/competition-and-markets-authority/about/personal-information-charter).

Contacts

Assistant Project Directors

Rhiannon Davies, xxx@xxx.xx (mailto:xxx@xxx.xx)

Jeremy Bohl, xxx@xxx.xx (mailto:xxx@xxx.xx)

Project Director

Daniel Rawling xxx@xxx.xx (mailto:xxx@xxx.xx)

Senior Responsible Officer

Lucília Falsarella Pereira, xxx@xxx.xx (mailto:xxx@xxx.xx)

Media contact

Any media enquiries should be directed to a member of our Press Office: xxx@xxx.xx (mailto:xxx@xxx.xx)

Information about suspected anti-competitive activity can be reported to the CMA (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/report-anti-competitive-or-market-issues-to-the-cma).