The Competition and Market Authority has imposed a millionaire fine on Sky Italia, challenging three conduct considered misleading.
The reason? Communications judged to be not very transparent on the increases in subscriptions, the application of increases also to the offers of Now advertised as “until you cancel” – a formula that implied the absence of changes – and the proposal to customers of additional packages or services presented as particularly advantageous, but which – according to the Antitrust – often did not respect what was promised.
In detail, the Antitrust approved a fine of two million euros for “deceptiveness of communications regarding increased costs of subscriptions to TV services“; one worth 800 thousand euros for “the application of these increases to Now TV offers whose claim (“until you cancel”) led one to think that they were excluded from it“. Finally 1.4 million euros for “the presentation to customers of advantageous offers, with the aim of customer retention, packaged in particular through the activation of additional TV packages or accessory services (Sky Wi-Fi), the promised conditions of which are systematically disregarded on the invoice”.
The company responded immediately, expressing surprise at the measure and claiming its commitment to protecting users:
We are amazed by this sanction from the Authority because it comes despite the actions implemented by Sky with the shared objective of further strengthening the transparency of company processes and always placing the customer at the centre. We remain convinced of the correctness of our actions and will evaluate all necessary actions in the most appropriate places.
Meanwhile, from the consumer front there is a positive reception, but not without criticism. Massimiliano Dona, president of the National Consumers Union, underlines that the issue does not end here: according to him, many companies communicate contractual changes and price increases in a less than evident way, often in periods in which it is easier for them to go unnoticed. For this reason, it reiterates the need for more rigorous rules and a system that requires the customer’s explicit consent for any modification that involves a greater cost.
