Competition Commission refers media firms to tribunal over price fixing claims
In what looks set to be an extremely drawn-out affair, the Competition Commission has referred 28 media companies to the Competition Tribunal for prosecution on charges of price fixing and the fixing of trading conditions, in contravention of the Competition Act. The case relates to an investigation initiated by the commission in 2011, which found that Media Credit Co-Ordinators (MCC) provided a percentage discount to a negotiated price for advertising to agencies that placed their adverts with MCC members. MCC-accredited agencies were offered a 16.5% discount while nonmembers were offered 15%. The commission has already reached a settlement with MultiChoice, Caxton and the Independent Group. Sipho Ngwema, head of communications at the commission, said it was not inevitable that the proceedings would be drawn out. "The facts are similar in all of the cases, they are clear and straightforward," he said. Ngwema said that a few of the 28 had already come forward to initiate settlement ...
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