'Sky should make football more widely available'

Sky should be forced to offer its premium content, including Premier League football, to its rivals at regulated wholesale prices.

That is the view of media watchdog Ofcom as it launched a further consultation on the market power of Sky as part of its investigation into the Pay-TV market.

Ofcom said that it would consult further on its view that Sky "has an incentive to limit the distribution of this content to competitors, in a manner that favours its own satellite platform".

It added: "Ofcom is also consulting on a proposal to require Sky to make this content more widely available on a wholesale basis to other retailers. This proposal should enable consumers to access this content regardless of their choice of Pay-TV platform, and provide consumers with an increased choice of service bundles."

Ofcom recognised Sky's "strong history of innovation" but said the emergence of new technology and platforms has the "potential" to offer "greater convenience and enhanced service flexibility".

It said: "We believe it is particularly important that the prices paid by consumers are determined by competition between different suppliers."

The news was welcomed by fierce Sky critic Nick Bish of the Association of Licensed Multiple Retailers.

"Ofcom's new recommendations will be welcomed by publicans across the country. At last we see the prospect of some open, fair competition in the Pay-TV market and this will be an enormous relief for Sky's commercial customers.

"25% of pubs stopped their Sky subscription over the past five years. This has clearly put the wonderful terrace atmosphere that pubs can provide on match day under threat.

"We hope that Ofcom will see through these measures for the good of the pub going football fan."

• The consultation can be found here​ and submissions must be in by 9 December.