• Cyfrowy Polsat made it difficult for its customers to watch Euro 2016 matches for free.
• The company removed publicly available channels ZDF and Das Erste from the automatic channel list on its set-top boxes.
• UOKiK imposed penalties of almost PLN 35 million on Cyfrowy Polsat.

The European Football Championship 2016 took place from 10 June to 10 July. Some matches could be watched for free on TVP 1, Polsat and at Sport.tvp.pl. The rest were shown on closed-access channels Polsat Sport 2 and Polsat Sport 3. To watch them, viewers had to pay PLN 79, buy the IPLA 2016 package for PLN 99 or renew their agreement with Cyfrowy Polsat for 24 months. All matches were also broadcast by publicly accessible German channels ZDF and Das Erste. Until 16 June 2016 at 2.30 PM, all viewers had to do was to select 470 and 471 on Cyfrowy Polsat set-top boxes to receive them. However, on the seventh day of Euro 2016, half an hour before the England-Wales game, the company removed these channels from the automatic channel list.

- We were getting reports that consumers were upset because Cyfrowy Polsat had made changes without notice. In our opinion, it deliberately obstructed access to the broadcast in order to encourage consumers to go for the company's offer. If viewers cared about the matches, they could have decided to pay for access to the broadcast - says Marek Niechciał, President of UOKiK.

The ZDF and Das Erste channels are available to the public, i.e. you can watch them if you have a set-top box which can receive satellite signal. Although they did not constitute part of Cyfrowy Polsat’s service, viewers could select them on the set-top box in the same way as channels guaranteed by Cyfrowy Polsat. ZDF and Das Erste were still available after being removed from the automatic menu on Cyfrowy Polsat's STBs, but they had to be configured manually by entering the right parameters. However, Cyfrowy Polsat did not inform consumers about that possibility.

- The lack of reliable information on the changes introduced and on the alternative ways of accessing ZDF and Das Erste channels caused confusion among consumers. Many of them might not have known that they could still watch the matches for free. They may have spent the money unnecessarily. Our decision should show entrepreneurs that such actions are unacceptable - says Marek Niechciał, President of the UOKiK.  

The Office found that Cyfrowy Polsat engaged in practices which harmed the collective interests of consumers. The penalty for the company amounted to almost PLN 35 million (PLN 34,918,515). Moreover, Cyfrowy Polsat has to publish information about UOKiK’s decision on its website.

The decision is not legally binding. The company may appeal to the court within one month from its receipt.

Support for consumers:

Tel. 801 440 220 or 22 290 89 16 - Consumer Helpline
E-mail: porady@dlakonsumentow.pl
Consumer Ombudsmen - in your city or district
Regional Consumer Centres: 22 299 60 90 - Dlakonsumenta.pl

Additional information for the media:

UOKiK Press Office
Pl. Powstańców Warszawy 1, 00-950 Warszawa, Poland
Phone +48 695 902 088, +48 22 55 60 246
E-mail: biuroprasowe@uokik.gov.pl
Twitter: @UOKiKgovPL