23 August 2005
BskyB (Sky) has said that the BBC's Freeview service breaches EU competition rules, a newspaper has reported.
According to the Independent, Sky says that the government's support for the free-to-air digital terrestrial television (DTT) service distorts the market by favouring one provider at the expense of the others.
The European commission says that state funds should only be used so long as they are "non-discriminatory and technologically neutral".
Sky, which operates satellite digital services, thinks that it should be given a fair chance at attracting the digital audience when the UK switches from analogue to digital, forecast to be completed in 2012.
The service provider told the Independent: "The proposed obligations on the BBC to build out the DTT network using state funds clearly merits careful scrutiny by the European commission."
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