The COMESA Competition Commission (CCC) has imposed fines of USD 300,000 each on the Confederation of African Football (CAF) and beIN Media Group LLC (beIN) for allegedly engaging in anti-competitive practices.
This marks the first instance where the CCC has applied a financial penalty for such practices, diverging from its previous focus on merger-related contraventions.
CAF, the governing body of football in Africa, granted exclusive long-term marketing and broadcasting rights to Lagardère Sports S.A.S for major regional football competitions in Africa.
These include the Africa Cup of Nations, the CAF Confederation Cup, the African Nations Championship and the CAF Champions League. Lagardère Sports in turn granted these rights for an extended period to beIN, in terms of memoranda of understandings concluded in 2014 and 2016.
Subsequently, Lagardère Sports extended these rights to beIN through agreements in 2014 and 2016.
The CCC’s Committee of Initial Determination (CID) found that certain provisions of these agreements constituted restrictive business practices.
The CID ordered that, within the COMESA Common Market:
1. All media rights granted to beIN under the agreements cease on December 31, 2024.
2. CAF must award future exclusive media rights through an open, transparent, and non-discriminatory tender process.
3. Exclusive agreements’ duration for media rights exploitation be limited to four years, extendable with CCC approval
4. CAF should offer media rights as separate, commercially viable packages on a platform-neutral basis.
CAF and beIN have a 60-business day window to appeal the CID’s decision to the Appeals Board.
