Dominant pay-television operator i-Cable Communications has been cleared of predatory pricing against new industry entrants.
The Broadcasting Authority said yesterday complaints lodged by the new players against the incumbent for allegedly eliminating competition by offering special promotional plans was unsubstantiated.
The new pay-TV licensees - Television Broadcasts's Galaxy Satellite Broadcasting, Britain's Yes Television and Pacific Digital Media of Taiwan - lodged two complaints with the regulator. The complaints concerned i-Cable's 'Be My Valentine' and 2002 World Cup marketing schemes.
They said the promotional packages had given i-Cable a more dominant market position.
I-Cable has a near-monopoly position with more than 570,000 subscribers, or about 30 per cent of total TV households, at the end of last month.
On the first complaint, over the Valentine's Day promotion, the chairman of the Broadcasting Authority, Norman Leung Nai-pang, yesterday said: 'The new entrants failed to submit adequate evidence to show the effectiveness of i-Cable's marketing plans adversely affecting the pay-TV market.'
The regulator also said the incumbent had no intention to prevent or restrict competition despite its presumed dominance of the pay TV market.
